125 years ago, several typesetters started their own business in Shanghai and set up a printing workshop. None of them expected that a small, inconspicuous workshop would become the founder of China's modern publishing industry.

125 years ago, several typesetters started their own business in Shanghai and set up a printing workshop. None of them expected that a small, inconspicuous workshop would become the founder of China's modern publishing industry. It is the Commercial Press , the oldest publishing institution in China's modern publishing industry.

Spanning three centuries, the Commercial Press has created many "firsts": it published the earliest self-compiled English textbook "Huaying Elementary School", edited "China's first set of elementary school textbooks", was the first to translate and publish "On Freedom", "On the Spirit of Law" and other Western ideological and academic masterpieces, and built the first library in Asia - the Oriental Library...

The Commercial Press is not only a publishing institution, but also a cultural center. It is as famous as Peking University and is called the "Twin Stars of Modern Chinese Culture". Yan Fu, Liang Qichao, Cai Yuanpei, Hu Shi, Chen Duxiu, Liang Shuming, Mao Dun, Ye Shengtao, Bing Xin, Hu Yuzhi...these names that shine like stars in the history of modern Chinese culture are inextricably linked to it.

"Prosperous education is a lifelong wish, so I work hard to study. This is fertile land for farming, and there will be autumn harvests with talented people." This is a poem written by Zhang Yuanji, the soul of the Commercial Press, in his later years. It was Zhang Yuanji and his colleagues’ ideal of “prosperous education” that made many cultural figures forge an indissoluble bond with the Commercial Press, thereby composing a legend in the history of modern Chinese culture.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the General Publishing House of the Commercial Press was busy.

A small workshop founded by a typesetting worker in the Photographic Engraving Department of the Commercial Press

On February 11, 1897, the second year after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1897 and the year before the Hundred Days Reform, an inconspicuous printing workshop quietly opened in a small alley on Jiangxi Road, Shanghai. Three hand-crank stamping machines, three pedal disc machines and three hand-operated stamping machines are almost all the possessions of the small workshop. No one expected that this small workshop would later become the oldest publishing institution in China's modern publishing industry.

The name of this small workshop is The Commercial Press.

Photo provided by IC photo of senior entrepreneurial figures of the Commercial Press

Its founder, Xia Ruifang, is an out-and-out "worker" - a typesetter in an English newspaper. Xia Ruifang was born as a cowherd boy in a farmer's family. In the eyes of ordinary people, he was in his early twenties and worked for a "foreign company" with a reasonable income. He must cherish the job opportunity. However, Xia Ruifang did not want to tolerate being discriminated against in a foreign company. He wanted to resign and find his own way out.

Xia Ruifang

In addition to Xia Ruifang, the founders of the business include Bao Xianchang, Bao Xianen and Gao Fengchi. They and Xia Ruifang were both classmates at Qingxin Academy, a missionary school. They both worked as apprentices in newspapers and libraries founded by foreigners, so they all knew a little English and mastered proficient typesetting and printing techniques. In this case, why not set up a press yourself?

When starting a business, the most difficult thing is funding. At this time, China's most traditional blood relationship came into play. Several founders are not only friends, but also relatives. Bao Xianchang and Bao Xianen are brothers, and Xia Ruifang is the son-in-law of the Bao family. They moved here and there, including relatives and friends, and finally collected 3,750 yuan. After purchasing the equipment, the capital of less than 4,000 yuan was spent in an instant.

With the determination to break the boat, Xia Ruifang, the first general manager of the Commercial Press, began the difficult road of starting a business.

's business name is Press, and it also has an impressive English name: Commercial Press. In fact, there were no printing orders at all at the beginning of the business, and it could only print sporadic business such as business forms, account books, and business cards. Xia Ruifang can't afford too many workers, so she wears multiple hats. "Everyone has to do it, from the general manager, to the proofreader, to the 'Shi Lao Fu' (the person employed by the store to collect accounts outside, the transliteration of the English shroff), to the comprador, and to the shopkeeper (the clerk who was responsible for field work such as running street deliveries in the old days)." Gao Fengchi, one of the founders of the business, recalled, "How do you call Shi Lao Fu? At that time, when expenses were needed at the end of the month, Mr. Ruifang would personally collect the accounts from house to house.How to say shop? At that time, if you wanted to use paper, you had to go to the Pudong hotel to pick it up. It cost about 10 cents to take the sampan from Huangpu Beach to Pudong and back. Once, there was a strong wind in the Huangpu River, which was very dangerous. When Mr. Ruifang returned to the company, all his clothes were soaked by the wind and waves. "After such hard work, the income was still not enough. In order to supplement the family income, Xia Ruifang even worked part-time at an insurance company selling insurance.

If he lived today, Xia Ruifang would definitely be the most inspirational business wizard. With such a difficult start, he actually made three unique decisions in just ten years at the helm of the business. These three decisions made the little-known printing workshop become a cultural superstar that everyone knows among modern Chinese literati.

The first decision he made was to publish and print my country's earliest self-edited English textbook "Huaying Elementary School".

During the late Qing Dynasty , the powerful ships and artillery of the Western powers opened the Qing court's closed door to the outside world. In the treaty ports, English had become an important tool for obtaining high rewards, and the trend of learning English became increasingly strong. Xia Ruifang has studied English and knows that even English typesetters The income is higher than that of Chinese typesetters. He was keenly aware that there might be a huge market for English teaching materials.

So he found an English enlightenment textbook, which was written by the British for Indian primary school students. Xia Ruifang asked someone to translate the book, add Chinese annotations, compare it with English and Chinese, rearrange it, and name it "Huaying Elementary School".

In 1898, "Huaying Elementary School" was printed by the Commercial Press. The book is thin and the price is low. The first printing of 2,000 copies was very popular and sold out in less than 20 days. Since then, it has been continuously reprinted and the supply exceeds the demand. The Commercial Press pursued the success and continued to launch "Hua Ying Advanced", and the sales were still booming.

"Huaying Elementary" and "Huaying Advanced"

How popular these two sets of English textbooks are, which can be seen from the memoirs of many cultural celebrities: In Beijing Liang Shuming, a master of Chinese studies who studied ABC at the Chinese and Western Primary Schools, Ye Shengtao, an educator who initiated English in Suzhou, Hu Shi who studied at Meixi Academy in Shanghai, and Zhou Zuoren, a young student who studied at Jiangnan Naval Academy , all used English textbooks "Huaying Elementary" or "Huaying Advanced". What's more, the complete set of "Huaying Advance" was sent to the palace and became the reading book for Emperor Guangxu to learn English.

Xia Ruifang tried her best in a small way and won the first battle. From this, the business successfully took the first step of transforming from a printing workshop to a publishing house. In the same year that "Huaying Beginner" was released, business moved from remote small alleys to the streets of Beijing Road, and the factory buildings expanded from 3 to 12.

"Hua Ying Beginner" successfully tested the waters, but Xia Ruifang is not complacent. In 1903, he made his second key decision— —Introducing foreign investment and reaching cooperation with Japan’s Jingangtang.

Jingangtang is a leading textbook publishing company and seller in Japan, and it was planning to invest in Shanghai at that time. After Xia Ruifang learned the news, she actively contacted and after arduous negotiations, she finally reached an agreement with Jingangtang. Both parties gave half of shares to and changed the Commercial Press to a limited company. What is particularly rare is that "I use people to act and I govern", that is to say, It not only introduced Japan's advanced technology and capital, but also placed the company's management rights in the hands of the Chinese. Relying on the 100,000 yuan capital brought by Japanese to invest in ,

has rapidly expanded its business scale and its printing technology has also improved a lot. According to Gao Fengchi’s recollection, advanced printing technologies such as copper plate printing and five-color printing were all taught by technicians sent by the Japanese side. “Since then, everything that our museum did not have before is now available. "

Business' business was booming, but under the watchful eye of the great powers, the anti-Japanese sentiment of the Chinese people was growing day by day. In 1912, Business began to negotiate to take back Japanese shares. The development momentum of business was strong, how could Japanese shareholders give up so easily? Xia Ruifang had to go to Japan in person for negotiations and consultations, which "lasted two years and dozens of meetings." In January 1914, both parties The party finally reached a repurchase agreement , and the company repurchased all the shares of Japanese shareholders for a total price of more than 550,000 yuan.

On January 10, 1914, the " declaration " published an announcement from the Commercial Press, announcing that the company "is a company entirely funded by foreigners and has repurchased all foreign shares."

Xia Ruifang, who was sitting in the office, breathed a deep sigh of relief when she saw this advertisement. Business " uses foreign capital but is not bound by foreign capital", and it is finally justified. At this time, he had no idea that he would be assassinated at the door of the Commercial Publishing House during get off work hours on the same day. The bullet hit a vital part and the injury was too serious. Xia Ruifang, who was only 43 years old, passed away unexpectedly.

A publisher who was in his prime was assassinated in broad daylight. People from all walks of life were shocked. Cai Yuanpei even wrote a biography of him himself. Who is behind the assassination of Xia Ruifang? There were different opinions. Some people said it was because they were involved in warlord disputes, while others thought it was the Japanese retaliation. Huang Si, the author of "Chinese Publisher Xia Ruifang", believed after extensive research that, in fact, "it was no secret at the time that Xia Ruifang was assassinated by someone sent by Chen Qimei." Gao Fengchi wrote in his diary that Chen Qimei's headquarters wanted to enter Zhabei. Later, Chen Qimei also borrowed money from business to maintain military pay, but Xia Ruifang refused. Chen Qimei "had a deep grudge because of it, so he ordered his best friends to attack him."

Regardless of the truth, Xia Ruifang's death is undoubtedly a huge loss to the business. However, business did not stop there, because Xia Ruifang had already found a talent for business-Zhang Yuanji. This is the third important decision Xia Ruifang made in business.

Zhang Yuanji

"Hanlin" Zhang Yuanji's joining

Zhang Yuanji is a veritable "student master" in the Chinese imperial examination room: a scholar at the age of 17, a successful candidate at the age of 22, a high school Jinshi at the age of 25, and a consecrated scholar in the Hanlin Academy. "History of the Ming Dynasty " records that "non-Jinshi will not enter the Hanlin, and non-Hanlin will not join the cabinet." This shows Zhang Yuanji's reputation as an "academic hegemon". "Excellence in learning leads to officialdom." Zhang Yuanji's career should have been smooth. However, in the turmoil of the late Qing Dynasty, the career of this imperial examination darling was destined to no longer be smooth.

On June 16, 1898, just the fifth day after the "1898 Reform", Emperor Guangxu made an exception and summoned Zhang Yuanji. At that time, Zhang Yuanji's position was the head of the Criminal Department and the Prime Minister's Yamen Zhang Jing, and he was probably only a sixth-rank official. Before him, Emperor Guangxu summoned Kang Youwei.

Zhang Yuanji supported the reform, but his attitude was not as radical as Kang Youwei. A hundred days later, the reform failed, Kang Youwei fled overseas, and Zhang Yuanji was dismissed from his post and "will never be used again."

In October 1898, Zhang Yuanji bid farewell to officialdom and came to the Translation College of Nanyang Public School (now Shanghai Jiao Tong University) as the dean. The person who introduced Zhang Yuanji's job was his boss at the Prime Minister's Yamen Li Hongzhang . Li Hongzhang appreciated his talent and specially asked Sheng Xuanhuai, founder of Nanyang Public School, to take care of him.

Li Hongzhang and Sheng Xuanhuai were both representatives of the Westernization Movement in the late Qing Dynasty. Zhang Yuanji, who was favored by them, naturally had a lot of research on Western learning. He is not only interested in Western practical technology, but also has a strong interest in natural science, astronomy and other subjects. Since there were very few Western translations at that time, he simply taught himself English. On June 8, 1896, in a letter to his close friend Wang Kangnian, he mentioned that "I have been learning English for several months, and I only know a few thousand words, but it is still difficult to master it." Later, he also founded the "Tongyi School" to teach English, astronomy, geography, military, agriculture, commerce, mineralogy and other new Western knowledge. Before leaving Beijing in 1898, Zhang Yuanji officially closed the Tongyi School and entrusted the Minister of Academic Affairs, Sun Jianai, to donate all the books, utensils, and accumulated balances of the Tongyi School to the Capital University. As one of the "New Deals" of the Hundred Days Reform, the Capital University survived after the 1898 Coup and became the predecessor of Peking University.

Zhang Yuanji lived up to Li Hongzhang's hope. Under his leadership, in just a few years, Nanyang Public School's translation direction shifted from military books to mainly social science books such as politics, economics, and law. Among them, the most influential one is "The Wealth of Nations" by the British classical economist Adam Smith, which is today's must-read economics "The Wealth of Nations". The person who translated "Yuan Fu" for the Translation Academy was Zhang Yuanji's good friend Yan Fu.

Soon, Zhang Yuanji met Xia Ruifang from the Commercial Press because they were printing teaching notes, publications, and reading materials needed by the school. Compared with Zhang Yuanji's circle of friends, Xia Ruifang is really an inconspicuous person, but his diligence, talent and dedication to his career left a good impression on Zhang Yuanji, and Xia Ruifang admired Zhang Yuanji's extensive knowledge even more. In this way, an intellectual who was born in Hanlin Academy and worried about the world, and a business wizard who was born as a printing worker and was shrewd but not stubborn, gradually developed a mutual sympathy and congeniality.

In 1901, at Xia Ruifang's kind invitation, Zhang Yuanji became a shareholder of the Commercial Press. The next year, when the business was preparing to set up a translation office, Xia Ruifang naturally thought of this most suitable candidate. However, according to the memories of Jiang Weiqiao, , the veteran editor of the Commercial Compilation Institute, Zhang Yuanji’s first recommendation for the compilation director was actually Cai Yuanpei.

Cai Yuanpei and Zhang Yuanji had a close personal relationship. They were both from the same hometown in Zhejiang, and they were both Jinshi in high school in 1892. Both were selected as concubines of the Hanlin Academy, and both left officialdom after the 1898 Coup. When Zhang Yuanji served at Nanyang Public School, he also invited Cai Yuanpei to serve as the chief teacher of the special class of Nanyang Public School.

Cai Yuanpei's agreement to work part-time in business was inseparable from the deep friendship between the two. However, only a few months after Cai Yuanpei concurrently served as the director of the translation institute, the "su reported " incident broke out and he had to leave Shanghai. Under such circumstances, Zhang Yuanji officially left Nanyang Public School in 1903 and joined business.

Chen Shutong was a senior publisher in the early days of the Commercial Press. He once recalled a conversation between Zhang Yuanji and Xia Ruifang, "Xia had a conversation with Zhang one day and asked Zhang, since he was not satisfied at the Translation Academy, if he could leave and let us cooperate. Zhang said, can you afford someone with such a big salary as me? Xia Tell me how much your salary is at the Translation Academy, and I will pay you.”

These words are enough to show that Xia Ruifang is eager for talents, but in fact, what Zhang Yuanji values ​​is definitely not the “big salary”. What he really pursues is the consensus he and Xia Ruifang reached, “We should support education as our own responsibility.”

Zhang Yuanji's educational ideals can be seen from a letter he wrote to Sheng Xuanhuai, "China claims to have a population of 400 million, but only 400,000 of its educated people can be educated, only one thousandth of an ear. And these 400,000 people can only recite the Four Books and Five Classics, and can write a few lines of eight-legged and eight-legged eight rhymes. They have no idea what they should know in today's world." "Those who set up schools today are mainly interested in cultivating talents. Yuanji believes that this is not necessary. The important thing is to make people understand a little." Because of this, when Xia Ruifang agreed with him that "Xia Guan will print and Zhang Guan will compile books," he resolutely resigned from the yamen-style Nanyang Public School and devoted himself wholeheartedly to the Commercial Press in its early development.

"Our country's first set of elementary school textbooks"

After leaving the government-run university and joining a small private publishing company, Zhang Yuanji quickly handed over an important masterpiece that "supports the people", which is what Gao Fengchi calls "our country's first set of elementary school textbooks."

Long before Zhang Yuanji joined business, it was a general trend to establish new schools. With the rise of new schools, what is needed most is new textbooks. China's old enlightenment textbooks such as "Three Character Classic", "Hundred Family Surnames", " Thousand Character Essay ", etc. are already out of date; textbooks written by foreigners are not in line with Chinese people's habits. Under the rapidly changing social reality, Zhang Yuanji was determined to personally preside over and compile a set of latest good teaching materials in order to "fulfill our national obligations."

Zhang Yuanji and the business editors have devoted great efforts to this set of textbooks. The old editor Zheng Zhenwen talked about the early days of the translation office in his article: "The main job at that time was to edit primary school textbooks. This was a pioneering work in China, and no one had any experience... It was jointly edited by Zhang Yuanji, Gao Mengdan, Jiang Weiqiao and Zhuang Yu. Based on the experience in compiling textbooks during the Japanese Reform period, every word was carefully considered. Each lesson must be agreed upon by four people before being finalized."

Jiang Weiqiao's memories of ", the latest Chinese textbook " were particularly detailed. He remembered that at that time, everyone took the form of a round table meeting. Anyone who proposed a principle and thought it was worthy of discussion would be debated in detail. Only after everyone agreed, the principle was set. Sometimes, everyone would discuss a principle for a long time or even a day.

These knowledgeable people The principles set by the editors for the Chinese textbook for primary school students are still quite scientific to this day, and have many similarities with the popular graded reading books for young children. For example, "The principle first invented is to use zigzag characters and limit strokes in the first textbook... The number of zigzag characters used in the first volume should be small, and it is stipulated that before the fifth lesson, the limit is six strokes; before the tenth lesson, the limit is nine strokes; and later it is gradually increased to fifteen strokes." "It turned out that when Jiang Weiqiao and others recalled that when they were starting to study, they found it difficult to memorize characters with more strokes. Therefore, they referred to English textbooks for foreigners. The first volume must use the characters with the least pinyin, and set this principle. The principles set by the

roundtable meeting also included the selected characters for the textbook, which were limited to ordinary daily users and did not use uncommon characters; in the texts before the fifth lesson in the first volume, there should be no more than ten new words in each lesson; the first volume has a total of sixty lessons. , the new words that appear in the previous text must appear two or more times in each subsequent lesson to facilitate review and memory, etc.

Once, when editing a text, Jiang Weiqiao used the word "cauldron". Gao Mengdan saw that he wanted to use the word "ding" instead. Jiang Weiqiao said that the word "ding" is too ancient, unusual and cannot be used. Gao Mengdan immediately asked: "The word 'ding' is a word used daily, what does it mean to be unusual?" "The two people were stern and argued for a long time without giving in. Finally they figured out that in the Fujian language of Gao Mengdan's hometown, people used to call "cauldron" "ding". When the truth was revealed, the two couldn't help but laugh.

In December 1904, the first volume of "The Latest Chinese Textbook" was published. In less than two weeks, more than 5,000 copies were sold. The latest textbooks were a hit, and the Commercial Press successively launched a set of elementary and higher elementary school textbooks, including 16 types of textbooks including self-cultivation, arithmetic, abacus, Gezhi, geography, and Chinese history. In the first year after the abolition of the imperial examination system, the Ministry of Education reviewed and approved the temporary catalog of elementary school textbooks for the first time. A total of 102 textbooks were approved, of which 54 were published by the Commercial Press, accounting for half of the textbook market. Thereafter, before the advent of vernacular textbooks, business version textbooks "were popular for more than ten years and were marketed to millions of copies."

The first book that Bing Xin enlightened was the first volume of the thread-bound "Latest Chinese Textbook" published by the Commercial Press. She recalled, “While I was learning to recognize the great and simple characters ‘Heaven, Earth, Sun and Moon, Mountains, Rivers and Civil Affairs’, I also learned the five very important characters ‘Commercial Press’. I have been reading from the first volume of the "Latest Chinese Language Textbook". Each volume and every lesson contains stories about Chinese and foreign historical figures, as well as texts related to national affairs, family affairs, and world affairs. I feel that I am increasing my knowledge and knowledge every day I read it. "

In the young Bing Xin's heart, the Commercial Press was like "a towering building standing in Shanghai, with several masters who impart knowledge living in it..." When she was eight or nine years old, she began to read extracurricular readings. Not only did she love reading "Three Kingdoms" and "Water "Margin" and "Journey to the West", and also likes to read new novels. Among them, her favorite ones are the Western novels translated by Lin Shu

"Masterpieces translated by Yan" and "Novel translated by Lin"

Bing Xin. My favorite "Lin's Translated Novels" are also from the Compilation Office of the Commercial Press chaired by Zhang Yuanji. In 1903, as soon as Zhang Yuanji entered business, he began to recruit talents from all walks of life, organized the translation and published a large number of Western literature and academic masterpieces.

The first translator he thought of was his close friend Yan Fu, who was known as the "first person in modern Western learning". When Zhang Yuanji was at Nanyang Public School Translation College, he wrote to Yan Fu many times for help with translation-related issues, and also spent a lot of money to buy the copyright of Yan Fu's translation of "Yuan Fu".

In 1903, when Zhang Yuanji joined the business community, the first edition of "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution" that made Yan Fu famous had been published for five years, but the Commercial Press was the publishing institution that reprinted "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution" the most. According to statistics by Shi Chunfeng, an associate professor at the Institute of Modern Chinese History at the School of Marxism at Peking University, from 1900 to 1921, the book was reprinted commercially 20 times.

This book, translated from the masterpiece of British biologist Huxley , introduced the theory of "natural selection and survival of the fittest" to China. Its repeated reprints are not only the discerning choice of business editors such as Zhang Yuanji, but also show the great influence of this book in modern China.

At that time, the young Lu Xun ignored the objections of his elders, "Whenever I had free time, I would eat cakes, peanuts, peppers, and read "The Theory of Heaven's Evolution" as usual." Another young man surnamed Hu finished reading "The Theory of Heaven's Evolution" and simply changed his name to "fit", which means "survival of the fittest". Later, he recalled the popularity of "The Theory of Heavenly Evolution" in his autobiography: "Its social and political application was a suitable stimulus to a nation that felt inert and sluggish for a long time." "In a few years, this kind of thinking was like wildfire, burning many young people. "Heavenly Evolution", "Evolution", "Natural Selection" and other terms have gradually become idioms in newspaper articles, and have gradually become the mantra of ordinary patriots."

In addition to "Tianyan Lun", Shang also published many works translated by Yan Fu.

In 1903, Mill's "On the Boundary of Groups" translated by Yan Fu was published in the first commercial edition. As a classic work of Western ideological and political science, this book has a name that is more familiar to modern people - "On Freedom". It was subsequently reprinted seven times in business.

From 1904 to 1909, a total of seven volumes of "Fa Yi" translated by Yan Fu were completely presented to the Chinese people. This work by the French Enlightenment thinker Montesquieu became very popular in Europe and the United States as soon as it was published in 1748. It is considered to be one of the few "major works" in the history of the development of Western jurisprudence. This book has been reprinted four times in business circles and is today translated as "The Spirit of Discourse".

In 1931, the Commercial Press collected 8 Western academic works translated by Yan Fu, including "Tian Yan Lun" and "Yuan Fu", and published the "Yan Translation Masterpiece Series". Almost one book in this series represents a social discipline and has deeply influenced a generation of intellectuals. As one of the readers of Yan's famous works translated by Yan Fu, Ye Shengtao wrote in the article "Me and the Commercial Press": "As for the contact with logic, evolution theory and Western democratic thinking, it is also due to reading various translations of Yan Fu's works published by Commercial Press. My situation is by no means unique. Young students in college at the beginning of this century It can be said that everyone who went to school before liberation was not affected by business and read business books. "

If "Yan's translation of famous works" opened the ideological horizons of a generation, then Bing Xin's favorite "Lin's translation of novels" influenced a generation of writers. Lin Shu, the originator of translation who did not understand English, needed the help of an interpreter who was proficient in foreign languages ​​when translating, and then wrote a large number of foreign literary works in classical Chinese. His translations include "La Traviata" (i.e. "La Traviata"), "The Legend of the Devil" (i.e. "Don Quixote"), "Aesop's Fables", "Robinson Crusoe", etc.

If there was a fan base back then, we would definitely see a string of shining names in Lin Shu’s fan base. Bing Xin, Lu Xun, Guo Moruo, Mao Dun, Shen Congwen, Qian Zhongshu all had a history of coming into contact with Western literature through Lin's translated works. Qian Zhongshu recalled: "The two small boxes of "Lin's Translated Novels Series" issued by the Commercial Press were a great discovery when I was eleven or twelve years old. They led me into a new world, a world other than "Water Margin", "Journey to the West" and "Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio"." Bing Xin recalled her youth. When he was obsessed with Lin's novels, he said: "I can still memorize the sentences in these books!"

Shen Yanbing reformed "Novel Monthly"

In 1913, twelve-year-old Bing Xin moved to Beijing with her father. At this time, she was surprised to find that the " Oriental Magazine " that her mother subscribed to was from the Commercial Press, just like the novels translated by Lin that she loved to read.

Yes, Business not only compiles and prints textbooks, translates and publishes Western literature and academic works, but also edits and publishes many social science magazines. Among them, Oriental Magazine, founded in 1904, had the greatest influence and did not cease operations until 1949. Liang Shuming was a loyal reader of "Oriental Magazine" and had contributed articles to the magazine. Cai Yuanpei saw the article and invited him to teach at Peking University . In addition, there are " Educational Magazine ", "Novel Monthly", "Student Magazine", etc. Suddenly, Business has become one of the few centers for the dissemination of advanced ideas and culture in the country.

Some people call the Commercial Press and Peking University the "twin stars of modern Chinese culture". However, in the New Culture Movement , the performance of the two is completely different. Peking University was the center of the New Culture Movement and the May 4th Movement. In comparison, business in Shanghai seemed languid, so much so that Peking University's Chen Duxiu and Luo Jialun once pointed their finger at magazines sponsored by business.

On April 1, 1919, "New Wave" published Luo Jialun's article "The Magazine World in Today's China". The article sharply criticized "Education Magazine" as "the most annoying" and "Student Magazine" as "an extremely unsavory academic magazine"; " Women's Magazine " "specializes in saying things about women being slaves to men"; as for "Oriental Magazine" ”, “This magazine of ancient and modern schools, sometimes industrial, sometimes political, sometimes agricultural and commercial, sometimes spiritual , is really diverse and full of wonders. Do you say it is old? It seems new. Do you say it is new? It is really not worthy.”

At this time, Zhang Yuanji, who had been changed to the manager of the Commercial Press, obviously also felt the pressure of the new cultural impact.

In late November 1920, a young editor named Shen Yanbing was invited to the reception room for a talk by Gao Mengdan, the then director of the Compilation and Compilation Institute. He was entrusted with the important task of serving as the new editor-in-chief of "Novel Monthly" and responsible for innovating the magazine. When the Great Revolution failed seven years later, the young man was forced to live in seclusion in Shanghai and published the novel "Disillusionment" under the pen name "Mao Dun".

Shen Yanbing worked at the Commercial Press. Taken in Hanfenlou Garden.

Shen Yanbing felt suddenly at the time. Later, he learned that not long before this conversation, Gao Mengdan and Zhang Yuanji had gone north to meet Zheng Zhenduo and others. Zheng Zhenduo was an advocate of the New Culture Movement. At that time, he was organizing the Literary Research Society , which was one of the earliest literary societies established in the New Literature Movement and had the greatest influence and contribution.

It was after this meeting that Zhang Yuanji and Gao Mengdan decided to comprehensively reform "Novel Monthly", and Shen Yanbing was chosen to open the gap. Gao Mengdan politely asked Shen Yanbing what his opinion was. Unexpectedly, Shen Yanbing, a 25-year-old literary and artistic young man, actually made three drastic demands: first, no existing manuscripts could be used; second, the magazine should be changed from size 4 to size 5; third, the library should give him full power and not interfere with his editorial policy. To this, Gao Mengdan agreed.

These conditions may seem simple, but they actually contain the determination of a new culture warrior. Because after Shen Yanbing took stock of the manuscripts, he found that the former editor-in-chief had bought enough manuscripts to last one year. These old manuscripts were all articles by old literati of the "Saturday School" at that time. Not using an old manuscript means breaking with old literature.

In January 1921, "Novel Monthly" met readers with a new look. The first issue of the magazine published articles by members of the literary research association such as Bing Xin, Ye Shaojun, Xu Dishan, , Zhai Shiying, Wang Tongzhao, etc. Starting from this issue, Shen Yanbing edited a total of two volumes and 24 issues of "Novel Monthly" and "Russian Literature Research". In just two years, "Novel Monthly" changed from a bastion of old literature to a position of new literature, and Shen Yanbing himself became the backbone of the literary research association.

Later, Shen Yanbing, who had become the famous writer Mao Dun, proudly recalled this period of history: “Writers and translators across the country, as well as researchers of Chinese literature and foreign literature, all contributed the fruits of their hard work to Novel Monthly.It can be said that the older generation of famous writers since the May Fourth Movement have all had a close relationship with "Novel Monthly", such as Lu Xun, Ye Shengtao, Bing Xin, Wang Tongzhao, Zheng Zhenduo, Hu Yuzhi, Yu Pingbo , Xu Zhimo, Zhu Ziqing, Xu Dishan, etc. "

"Asia's largest library"

In 1916, when Shen Yanbing first came to business, he once said to his colleagues: "I have no family burden. I am not here for profit or fame, I just want to read some books in Hanfen Tower, which has a rich collection of Chinese and foreign ancient and modern books. "After work, he spent a lot of time in Hanfen Building. Here, he read books on Russian literature and socialist theory. His thoughts changed dramatically and he became one of the earliest members of the Communist Party of China.

The collection of books in Hanfen Building was the most important thing for Shen Yanbing when he chose the Commercial Press as the starting point for his career. It was also the key to Zhang Yuanji and the Commercial Press. A major contribution to the protection and inheritance of ancient Chinese books.

As early as the beginning of joining the business, Zhang Yuanji discovered that editors of the compilation office needed a wide range of reference materials. However, there were no public libraries in China at that time, only private libraries owned by bibliophiles. Whenever editors wanted to check the information, "there are no books in the market, and there are many publications in the market, but they didn't dare to believe it." Therefore, Zhang Yuanji began to consider visiting rare books and the collections of famous collectors to establish a reference library for the compilation office.

Although it was for the convenience of work, in order to collect collections from all parties, the Commercial Press could be said to be at any cost. In 1905, there was news that the collection of books in the Song Dynasty Tower would be sold to the outside world. After hearing the news, Zhang Yuanji immediately approached Xia Ruifang to discuss purchasing this collection of books. It was owned by Lu Xinyuan, a bibliophile in the late Qing Dynasty. It was one of the four major libraries in modern times. It was famous for its large number and high value of Song and Yuan editions. It is conceivable that Zhang Yuanji visited the Kaisong Tower more than once in his early years, but he was not allowed to take a look. , he was very excited when he heard the news. At that time, the business capital was only a few hundred thousand yuan, but Xia Ruifang generously promised 80,000 yuan for Zhang Yuanji to use to buy books. Unfortunately, the Kaosong Tower collection was eventually sold to the Japanese chaebol Baron Iwasaki for 100,000 yuan.

's failure to acquire the collection of books in the Song Dynasty prompted Zhang Yuanji to make up his mind to search for ancient books to "preserve our country's thousands of years of civilization." Looking through the letters between him and his friends, we have to admire Zhang Yuanji's painstaking efforts in searching for ancient books. In addition to negotiating to buy library books, he also regularly went to the book market to look for used books and left his name for the owner of the used bookstore. They delivered the rare and ancient books they collected to his door, and he even put a prominent "Buy Old Books" sign on the door of his apartment.

In 1909, the Business Library was officially established under the name of "Hanfen Building". "Hanfen" means encompassing fragrance and wisdom. In 1924, the collection of books in Hanfenlou reached more than 460,000 volumes. On this basis, the Commercial Press built a new five-story building near the main factory on Baoshan Road, thus building the Oriental Library, the largest library in Shanghai and even Asia at that time. What is even more valuable is that Zhang Yuanji decided to change the internal Oriental Library into a general reference library in 19 It was officially opened to the outside world in 2026.

The Oriental Library, which has a vast collection of books, has since become a spiritual food that can truly enlighten people's wisdom. According to statistics, in 1929 alone, the Oriental Library welcomed nearly 30,000 readers, and in 1930, the number of readers exceeded 36,000. Ba Jin, a young man in his 20s, was a frequent visitor to the Oriental Library. He once wrote affectionately: “Although I have to spend a few copper coins to buy tickets every time I go there, and although the staff there do not advertise what they are doing for the country, I have received all the conveniences there, which makes me always feel that this is the only library for readers. "

Oriental Library

Zhang Yuanji feels that just keeping rare ancient books in the library is not enough. In his opinion, in the era of war and chaos, only by sorting, photocopying and publishing ancient books can "make one more ancient book circulate" and "preserve one more copy" "Effectiveness". To this end, in 1915, he personally took the lead and began to prepare and publish the "Sibu Series". The "Sibu Series" included 469 kinds of ancient books, including a large number of rare books and fine manuscripts of Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasty. In order to compile this series of books, Zhang Yuanji even made a special trip to Japan to search for the unique secret books leaked from our country.

Zheng Zhenwen, an editor who worked in business in his early years, traveled east to Japan with Zhang Yuanji. According to his recollection, the trip cost more than 100,000 yuan. They visited Japan's Jingjia Tang Library, Cabinet Library, and Oriental Library. Even the Imperial Library located in the palace, the Imperial Household Library, managed to get permission to read books in the library for three days. Zheng Zhenwen wrote: "Zhang specializes in reading classics, histories, works, and collections, while I read literary novels. After the initial selection, Zhang agreed and decided to borrow a list of books from the librarian. The Japanese photography technician we reserved in Tokyo used a special camera in the library to take small negatives one by one, and brought them back to enlarge them to the required size. "For more than three months, I read ancient books non-stop every day except Sunday. I lived with Zhang and saw that he would take notes every night until late at night..."

In 1922, the first edition of "Sibu Series" was published. It was immediately favored and valued by scholars at home and abroad, and received rave reviews. Subsequently, "The Continuation of the Four Series" and "The Third Part of the Four Series" were photocopied and published in 1934 and 1935 respectively. In addition, ancient books such as "Twenty-Four Histories of Baiyiben" and "Xuguyi Series" were published one after another under the auspices of Zhang Yuanji. To this day, these publications are still "essential tools" for literary and historical workers to consult ancient books.

As if competing for time with the turbulent times, Zhang Yuanji worked selflessly in order to organize and publish these ancient books. However, the Japanese invaders still extended their claws into Shanghai. In 1932, the Commercial Press suffered the biggest disaster since its establishment. The Oriental Library that Zhang Yuanji had painstakingly built was burned to the ground.

"China's modern publishing starts here"

Late at night on January 28, 1932, the Japanese invaders launched the January 28th Incident. The next day, several Japanese planes took off from an aircraft carrier docked on the Yangtze River and bombed downtown Shanghai wildly. Six bombs were accurately dropped on the Commercial Press Main Factory on Baoshan Road. The Commercial Press's general management office, translation office, four printing plants, warehouses, and staff dormitories were suddenly plunged into a sea of ​​flames.

A few days later, a fire broke out in the Oriental Library near the main factory. The raging fire engulfed the largest library in Asia at the time. After this disaster, except for the more than 5,300 rare books previously stored in the vault of Jincheng Bank, all the books in the Oriental Library were reduced to ashes, and a large number of precious rare and unique books were destroyed.

According to subsequent statistics, the Commercial Press's various assets suffered a total loss of 16.33 million yuan, accounting for 80% of the company's total assets. A few days after the bombing, paper ash continued to fly over downtown Shanghai. Some of the paper ash floated into the yard of Zhang Yuanji's home. Zhang Yuanji, who was 65 years old at the time, couldn't help crying. "Twenty years of hard work has turned into baht, and a forest of books has been replaced by ashes in an instant."

This disaster was not an accidental "accidental bombing." Afterwards, Commander of the Japanese Marine Corps Koichi Shiozawa once stated the true intentions of the invaders: "If you burn down a few streets in Zhabei, you can recover in a year and a half. As long as the Commercial Press, China's most important cultural institution, is burned down, it will never recover."

However, the invaders' attempts did not succeed, and the Commercial Press was not defeated by this disaster. The commercial general manager at the time, Wang Yunwu, personally wrote a slogan, "Sacrifice for the national crisis, fight for culture," and posted it at the entrance of the Henan Middle Road Publishing House of the Commercial Press. Zhang Yuanji, who is over sixty years old, has already taken a back seat and spends most of his time sorting out and editing ancient books. At the critical moment, he rushed back to the office and presided over an emergency meeting of the board of directors, determined to "still try to recover as long as he has a breath left."

Fortunately, the Commercial Press's two factories in Hong Kong and Peking can still be used. Just half a year later, on August 1, 1932, the Commercial Press announced its resumption of business and resumed printing production. Three months later, the business "Sunrise New Book". According to statistics, the Commercial Press published more than 8,000 new books in the 35 years from its establishment to the January 28th Incident. In the four years after its resumption of business, "more than 3,600 new books were published."

In 1933, a new set of "Revival Textbooks" came out, in the name of "Revival" to bear in mind the national crisis.In the same year, the Oriental Library Revitalization Committee was established, and Zhang Yuanji personally donated 10,000 yuan for this purpose. Unfortunately, the reconstruction plan failed to materialize due to the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War.

In 1937, the Commercial Press came under fire again. With the fall of Shanghai, business had to embark on a wartime road of displacement, traveling to Changsha, Chongqing, Hong Kong and other places.

The war destroyed the factories and equipment of business, but it could not destroy the cultural inheritance of business people who "support education as their own responsibility". During the extremely difficult war years, the Commercial Press still adhered to the cultural roots of book publishing, publishing a total of 2,827 wartime readings and general books, and more than 100 textbooks until the new China.

In 1954, the Commercial Press moved to Beijing.

Today, the Commercial Press building stands quietly beside the bustling streets of Wangfujing. Walking into its door, two bulletin boards in the lobby on the first floor are particularly eye-catching, one is "Our Authors" and the other is "Our Employees". The two bulletin boards include almost all the shining names in China's modern cultural history, from Yan Fu and Liang Qichao during the reform movement in the late Qing Dynasty, to Cai Yuanpei, Hu Shi, and Chen Duxiu during the New Culture Movement, to Ye Shengtao, the founder of New China's textbooks, and Hu Yuzhi, the first director of the General Administration of Publishing of New China, all listed among them.

Next to the Commercial Press, there is a small gray and low-key building called "Hanfenlou Bookstore". The historical exhibition hall on the second floor of the bookstore is now quietly telling the 125-year history of the Commercial Press' "prosperous education and enlightenment of people's wisdom". The memorial wall in the bookstore proudly tells readers who come and go, "China's modern publishing begins here." And the couplet inscribed by Mr. Zhang Yuanji, "The old home for hundreds of years is nothing but accumulation of virtue, the first good thing is to study." It is like an old man who has traveled through time, narrating the cultural roots and ideals passed down by generations of business people for hundreds of years.

Reference bibliography: Shi Chunfeng's "The Commercial Press and Modern Chinese Culture", Li Jiaju's "The Commercial Press and the Spread of Modern Knowledge and Culture", Ye Song Manying's "From Hanlin to Publisher - The Life and Career of Zhang Yuanji", Huang Si's "Chinese Publisher Xia Ruifang", "Ninety Years of the Commercial Press", "Ninety-five Years of the Commercial Press", etc.

(Original title: Centennial Context - The Commercial Press that started China’s modern publishing industry)

Source: Beijing Daily Reporter: Yang Lijuan

Process Editor: U063