Speaker

Mr.Michael Worbs

Ex-Chairperson of the Executive Board of UNESCO Michael Worbs is committed to UNESCO’s mandate in the fields of Education, the Sciences, Culture, and Communication and Information. He was elected as Chairperson of the Executive Board for a mandate from 2015 to 2017.Equally,he is the Representative of Germany to the Board.From 2012 to 2016, he was Ambassador and Permanent Delegate of Germany to UNESCO.

He has previous experience with the organization: from 1997 to 2001 ,he was Deputy Permanent Delegate of Germany to UNESOC. He gained particular experience in the FA Commission and was involved in the reform of UNESCO. He participated in the elaboration of the 2001 Convention on the Protection of the Underwater Cultural Heritage and led the German Delegation during the final meeting of Governmental Experts on the Draft Convention.

Michael Worbs was born on 14 September 1950 in Ulm (Germany). He studied Political Science, History and German Literature in Frankfurt/Main and Berlin and completed Advanced Studies of Comparative Literature in Berlin, Vienna, Paris and Rome. In 1980, he received a doctorate from the Technical University of Berlin (supervisor: Walter Höllerer). He has published several books and articles on Literature and Psychoanalysis, Arts and Literature of the Fin de Siècle, Literary History of Rome and Media Policy.

Ms.Yvonne Steinberger

Ms Yvonne Steinberger was born on 15th.Dec.1958 in Germany .After her graduation at high school ,she followed a booksellers training in Hamburg.

In 1980 ,She moved to Belgium to work in her aunts bookshop in Bruges for 8 years. In 1988 She took over the business and has been an independent bookseller since.

Ever since she came to Belgium, she was engaged in their trade organization (Flemish Booksellers Association) which she represented on an international level from 1990-2012.

1985 - 1987 She was president of the International Young Booksellers Congress

1997 - 2003 She was president of the International Booksellers Federation and the member of International Book Committee within UNESCO

She visited China for the first time in 1999 and organized the Annual meeting of IBF in Beijing in 2006 together with the Chinese Booksellers Association.

Mr.Limin Ai

Chairman of the China Book and Publication Industry Association.Senior Economist

1985-1996, Director of the editorial and distribution department of the People's Publishing House.

1996-2002, Deputy Director,Distribution Department,Press and Publication Administration.

2003-2005, Deputy Director of the Press and Publications Department of the General Administration of Press and Publication.

2005-2011, Director of the Information Center of the General Administration of Press and Publication ( The Library Director of Chinese Version)

2011-2013, Director of the Finance Department of the General Administration of Press and Publication.

2014- 2015,Director of the Press and Publications Department of the General Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television.

Since 2015, Chairman of the Books and Periodicals Distribution Association of China.

Mr.Xiaokai Liu

Director of the Printing and Distribution Bureau of the Central Propaganda Department of the CPC

Mr.Yibing Niu

Minister of Publicity Department of Shaanxi Provincial Party Committee He was born in March 1966,in Luancheng of Hebei Province, and started to work in July 1988. He joined the Communist Party of China in April 1985 with a full-time bachelor's degree in law, and also been a senior journalist before. He has served as deputy director of the Sports Department of Tianjin Daily, editor of the "Fans" newspaper, deputy director of the Ministry of Finance and Trade, member of the editorial board, editor of the "New Daily News", deputy editor of Tianjin Daily (Tianjin Daily Newspaper Group). Secretary of the Party Committee, Director of the Local Department of the People's Daily, Vice Chairman and President of the People's Daily Co., Ltd., Vice Chairman of the All-China Journalists Association, Deputy Editor of the Overseas Edition of the People's Daily, and the member of People's Daily Editorial Board in July 2018 , overseas editor-in-chief, vice chairman of the All-China Journalists Association, in October 2018, member of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee and member of the Standing Committee.

Representative of the 19th CPC National Congress

Mr.Ruediger Wischenbart

Rüdiger Wischenbart, born in 1956 in Graz, Austria, he earned PhD in German literature from the University of Graz, and he was the founder of “Content and Consulting” (since 2003), and a writer and speaker specializing in culture, cultural industries, the global book markets, and innovation in the publishing industry.

Most recently, he researched and (co-) authored several reports on global publishing markets, notably the “Global eBook” report (www.global-ebook.com ), the “Global 50 Ranking of the Publishing Industry”, updated annually since 2007, or the Diversity Reports about literary translation markets in Europe (since 2008) – which are available at www.wischenbart.com .

He served as Director for Publishers’ Forum in Berlin. In 2017, he co-founded BookMap, a non-profit initiative on international publishing statistics together with Miha Kovac of the University of Ljubljana. (www.BookMap.org ) He served as Director of Communication to the Frankfurt Book Fair (1998 to 2001).

Mr. Lin Zhang

Member of the Standing Committee of the CPC Xi'an. Director of the Publicity Department. He was born in January 1966, Shaanxi WuGong, and joined the party in October 1985,.He begun to work in July 1987 with full-time college degree, postgraduate degree and history degree of the Central Party School.

He once served as Deputy Director of the Office of the Network Security and Information Committee of the Shaanxi Provincial Committee.

Mr.Denis Kotov

Denis Kotov, Founder of "Bookvoed", the St. Petersburg chain of book stores, co-owner and a member of the Board of Directors of the Company "Read-city - Bookvoed". Member of the Board of the Russian Book Union, Chairman of the Committee for support and development of book distribution.

Mr. Zhongyi Wang

He is currently a member of the Zhejiang Publishing Union Group Committee, deputy general manager of Zhejiang Publishing Media Co., Ltd., Chairman of Zhejiang Xinhua Bookstore Group, vice chairman of China Xinhua Bookstore Association, executive director of China Book and Publication Industry Association, and chairman of Zhejiang Book and Publication Industry Association. . He worked as a technician in the Hangzhou Semiconductor Factory, which developed electronic chips. He joined the Xinhua Bookstore in Zhejiang Province in 1985 and has been engaged in publishing for 34 years. He has been at the helm of Zhejiang Xinhua for more than 10 years, and the company has built a cultural consumption complex and optimized the urban and rural bookstores. Leading the industry in network layout, innovative public cultural service model, cross-regional chain cooperation, and promotion of information technology application iteration, leading Zhejiang Xinhua to become a large-scale modern cultural trade circulation with outstanding main business, leading technology and comprehensive cultural service functions. The enterprise group has created a “Zhejiang experience” and a “Zhejiang sample” with industry-leading and exemplary experience. He has been awarded the honorary title of “National Propaganda and Culture System ‘four Batches of Talents”, “China Top 100 Outstanding Publishing Entrepreneur”, “National Press and Publication Industry Leading Talents” and “National Cultural System Reform Work Advanced Individual”.

Mr.Murat Bahadir

He was born in Trabzon in 1980. He graduated from the Naval Academy in 2001 from the department of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering. Between 2003-2013, he worked as a director in www.idefix.com, which is one of the first e-commerce websites in Turkey. In 2009, he founded prefix.com.tr, which is the first B2B book sales platform in Turkey. In 2010, he took part in the production and sales of the first e-book project in Turkey, which was supported by TUBITAK. He started to work as a general manager in Arasta Information Technologies in 2013. In March 2014, he founded www.emekkitap.com, which is the largest book distribution brand in Turkey. He founded eganba.com, which is a B2C book sales e-commerce website, in May 2015 and odakitap.came in July 2015. In January 2017, he incorporated babil.com, a B2C book sales e-commerce website, into Arasta Information Technologies. Also, he founded okulalisverisim.com, which is the largest school sales platform in Turkey. Kırmızı Kedi Bookstore Chain is also a registered trademark of Arasta Information Technologies.

Mr.Xianliu Gong

CEO of Yoyi Bookstore Group

 Mr. Gong Xianliu has been engaged in the bookstore industry for nearly 30 years.

From 1991 to 2019, under the leadership of Mr. Gong, the number of physical bookstores under the company has been expanded to 23 and the usable area has been increasing from over 20 m2 to 50,000 m2. With the bookstores operated in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Heyuan and other cities, the performance of the company has achieved growth for consecutive years. The year of 2014 witnessed the establishment of two new brands of physical store, Reading Mi and Soffe Life. Mr. Gong has made the bookstores honored as the “Reading Sharing Space” in Shenzhen, “The Most Beautiful Reading Space” in Guangdong and “The Most Beautiful Bookstore in China”. No matter how time changes, Mr. Gong will always stick to the dream of making great bookstore. He will never forget the initial desire and keep his dream.

As the General Manager of Shenzhen Yoyi Book, Mr. Gong has been engaged in bookstore industry for nearly 30 years.

From 1991 to 2019, he led the company to develop into 23 entity bookstores in Shenzhen, Dongguan, Heyuan and other cities, expanding the business area from 20 square meters to more than 50,000 square meters. The performance of the company has grown exponentially year by year.

The year of 2014 witnessed the establishment of two new brands of physical stores, Reading Mi and Soffe. Mr. Gong has made the bookstores known as the "Reading Sharing Space" in Shenzhen, "The Most Beautiful Reading Space" in Guangdong and “The Most Beautiful Bookstore in China”. No matter how much time passes by, Mr. Gong will always stick to his dream of making the best bookstore. He will never forget his initial desires and keep working hard to accomplish his dream.

Mr. Sanguo Cheng,

Chairman of Bookdao

Chief Consultant of Bookdao New Publishing Institute

Also hold a current post of

Standing director of China Book Critics Society

Standing director of China Audio-Video and Digital Publishing Association

Once held a post of Consultant of Paju Asia Publishing Forum (South Korea);Independent Director of Winshare Publishing & Media Co., Ltd.;Independent Director of Thinkingdom Media Group Ltd.;

Standing director of China Periodicals Association;Editorial Board Member of Publishing Research(USA)

In 2017, founded Bookdao Learning, an audio platform for professional training in Publishing and bookstore industry.

In 2009, founded Bookdao.com & Bookdao New Publishing Institute

In 1995, founded China Book Business Report (first business media of Chinese publishing industry)

His important studies include Understanding Modern Publishing Industry (2003), which established analysis ways of modern publishing industry structural and became common industry framework in China’s market, and E-book Industry Report (2011 ), which established the industry analysis framework.