Hong Kong’s biggest annual book fair opened on Wednesday to complaints of poor crowd management from hundreds of fans of Cantopop girl group Collar who had queued overnight for an autograph only to miss their chance as lines intersected.
“The arrangement is an absolute mess … This was my first time at the book fair, and it has been deeply disappointing,” said 15-year-old Lucas Wong, who arrived at the Hong Kong Book Fair at around 2am to buy the group’s photobook to secure an autograph time.
Despite the long wait before the event’s 10am opening, a queue blocked him from getting anywhere near the sales booth. He suspected that other venue entrances had opened up ahead of the official start time.
Left waiting outside one of the centre’s halls for a remaining slot, Lucas expected he would miss out on a signed copy of the book.
Another student, surnamed Ng, who had queued from about 3am to buy the same photo album during his second book fair, expressed similar frustrations and slammed the organiser’s handling of the lines.
The seven-day fair is running in tandem with the Sports and Leisure Expo and the World of Snacks. The events are set to bring together more than 770 exhibitors from about 30 countries and regions.