MORE than half a century ago, The Commercial Press, China’s first modern publishing house, moved from Shanghai to Beijing. But the city has never forgotten this literary landmark institution.

On February 11, the publishing giant celebrated its 120th birthday in one of its former printing factories in Shanghai, the only remaining vestige of its history here.

A series of exhibitions and lectures about The Commercial Press will be held there this year, tracing the publisher’s ties with Shanghai. The Jing’an District government is considering a plan to turn the site into a museum.

The Commercial Press was founded in 1897 by Xia Ruifang, then 26, and three friends. In 1914, Xia attempted to buy out a Japanese company that had invested in the publisher. Four days later, he was assassinated. No one was ever arrested for the crime.

The Commercial Press started out as a publisher of textbooks but later expanded into Chinese-language educational material and magazines. It opened branches in Hong Kong, Singapore and Taipei, among other places.

At one time, The Commercial Press had five printing factories in Shanghai, but four of them were reduced to rubble during the Japanese invasion of the city during World War II.

Only the No. 5 printing factory on Tiantong’an Road survived the war. It was a former drug store purchased in 1923 as a printing site.

“It was spared because the Japanese invaders requisitioned it during their occupation,” said Zhang Renfeng. Zhang is the grandson of Zhang Yuanji, the former chief executive of The Commercial Press, who developed it from a small printing workshop to a publishing giant.

“Historically, it had just two floors,” said factory General Manager Jiang Shuxin. “In 1958, a third floor was added. The first floor held machinery, and upstairs were offices.”

But later, the whole factory was converted into office space.

“I visited the factory in the 1980s and 1990s, and I remember the beautiful wooden floor,” Zhang Renfeng said. “The staircases were wide enough for workers to move books up and down. Old desks and cupboards were still in use.”

About 10 years ago, the building was emptied. Part of its structure, like the iconic belfry, remained, while other fixtures were pulled down because they were too dilapidated, according to historian Ma Youjiong.

Restoration of the site started in 2015, spearheaded by China Vanke Co, one of China’s biggest real estate developers.

“Vanke asked me for the original architectural drawings,” said General Manager Jiang. “The site was rebuilt and repaired according to the origin design.”

The idea of transforming the site into a museum was first proposed recently.

Shanghai political advisors Ma Chi and Ma Qiang said the history of The Commercial Press is rooted in Jing’an even though its operating presence is gone. The No. 5 printing factory is architectural legacy and should be converted into a museum, they said.

Under tentative plans, the first floor would showcase old editions published by The Commercial Press and host a book market. The second floor would showcase the industrial aspects of publishing, displaying some of the old machinery used in printing. The museum idea is gaining traction.

“We are working on the plan,” said Zhang Zhong, deputy director of the Jing’an Cultural Bureau “It could be a museum by 2020, but details of the plan are still to be worked out. Since renovation of the site has been completed, we will host a series of exhibitions and activities there in the interim.”

Collecting historic archives

Historic archives are being collected as part of preparation for the museum. Zhang said that has been a “journey of surprises.”

“Previously, we had heard that The Commercial Press operated a bookstore near Jing’an Temple, but we had no evidence of that,” he said. “But recently, we found a photo of the store from a Zhang Yuanji biography sold at an old book fair. It’s solid evidence.”

New information is also debunking the old belief that The Commercial Press was confined to old Zhabei, which was a walled-off area for Chinese residents.

“But we have found evidence that the publisher has actually left many footprints in the former French Concession, like several temporary printing workshops on Weihai Road and Nanjing Road W,” Zhang said.

Historian Ma Youjiong said the museum may be run jointly by local cultural authorities and The Commercial Press.

Yu Dianli, general manager of The Commercial Press, said the publisher is happy about the plan.

“The Commercial Press was born in Shanghai, a melting pot of commercial and urban cultures,” he said. “We now have two branches in Shanghai, and we plan to transform one into an independent publishing house.”

Yu said the company has other plans for expansion.

“We have developed well in the last five years,” he said. “Sales and profits have almost doubled. It is an ideal time for us to continue development.”

He said the move from publishing only reference and academic works into more popular books has gained public readership.

“We try to include natural sciences and cultural art because more people are now interested in nature, environmental protection and art realms,” Yu said. “We consider ourselves to embody the spirit of the era.”

Starting in 2014, The Commercial Press began adding digital books to its business.

“The new technology will stimulate our sales,” Yu said. “We just present works in a different format. These formats aren’t rivals. They complement one another.”

One key to the company’s success, he said, is its dominant belief that content is king.

“It’s meaningless to just embrace new technology without building a database, a knowledge platform,” he said.

Film, for example, may be a new platform, he noted. After all, many blockbuster movies are based on popular books.

“We have also started to sell art products,” he said. “This year, we released our first product, a zodiac calendar. It quickly sold out. We plan to hold creative contests among our staff to generate new and interesting ideas.”

Yu said contemporary publishers need to help build “cultural confidence.”

“If art and culture want to have a stronger voice in the world, we shouldn’t be afraid of different voices,” he said. “Every culture has similarities and differences. We should give them a voice and examine the results. We should retain an open mind.”

HISTORIC fact

Shanghai has been a publishing house since the Qing Dynasty, tapping the most influential writers and editors, and utilizing the most advanced machinery. Shanghai came to be dubbed “the city of publishing.”

Wang Yunwu, former general manager of The Commercial Press, said in the 1930s that nine out of 10 books in China were published in Shanghai.

The Commercial Press employed more than 300 translators, including Chinese scholars like Xia Zengyou, Zheng Zhenduo, Zhao Yuanren, Zhou Yutong, Tao Xisheng and Gu Jigang.

At one time, The Commercial Press was the biggest publishing house in Asia, with 41 departments, 1,200 machines and 3,600 printers. It opened more than 80 branches around China and in Asia. It also set more than 1,000 sales sites in cities such as San Francisco, New York and Singapore.

American scholar Lucian Pye said that before the war, the output of publishing by The Commercial Press almost equaled that of the US.

— From the book “Shanghai in World War II,” written by Zhou Wu

Timeline of 120 years

1897:

Typesetters Xia Ruifang, Gao Fengchi, Bao Xian’en and Bao Xianchang set up the The Commercial Press in a shikumen-style building in the Huangpu District.

1898:

The first English textbook for Chinese was published.

1899:

The first English-to-Chinese dictionary was published.

1902:

The Commercial Press moved to Jing’an and secured the investment to build its own printing plant.

1903:

Zhang Yuanji (left) set up a translation bureau, allowing The Commercial Press to start publishing world classics and reference books.

1907:

Headquarters was established on Baoshan Road in Jing’an (far left). It was the size of almost eight soccer fields.

1908:

The first bilingual dictionary edited by Chinese scholars was published.

1926:

A private library (left), China’s largest at the time, was built, housing nearly 520,000 volumes.

1932:

The Commercial Press headquarters was destroyed in Japanese aerial bombardment, and the library was razed by arson.

2017:

The Commercial Press returned home in its 120th birthday, 63 years after it moved to Beijing.