Chapter 16 Publisher Wang Rongwen Postscript

As a publisher, I have such a habit that whenever I meet a potential author, I will ask: "What is the book you most want to write in your life, or now?" In July 2000, when I had a conversation with Bo Yang, a great writer who had come back to the literary world and had a great reputation at the time, I asked him a sentence. His answer was: "What I want to do most is to spend the rest of my life translating." This is the reason why "Yuanliu" published the Bo Yang version.It's just that I didn't expect that such a dialogue at that time would take ten years of hard work to get through.Such a arduous process is beyond the imagination and understanding of outsiders, but I know very well that Yu Boyang is to me, this is actually a career without complaints or regrets.

From the perspective of history, each of us is small, but personal power is often unlimited.Nine hundred years ago, Sima Guang’s book took 19 years to complete with the support of the state’s manpower and material resources. In contrast, today’s Bo Yang, with his personal wisdom and perseverance, is able to work with the limited manpower and material resources of a private publishing house. With the cooperation of material resources, the Bo Yang version was completed in ten years.Although in comparison, our contribution cannot be compared with the former, but with the dedication of all the people, this proud modern language translation has been completed.

What are we relying on?As a publisher, I agree that publishing is "a place of experimentation with ideals and courage".Bo Yang Edition, a great project including translation, production, and marketing, has further implemented my belief in publishing.I know that from now on, more people will benefit from this book, and from the standpoint of cultural transmission, this modern language version has made the influence of historical records virtually enlarged .In this regard, I deeply feel the pride of being a publisher.And the person we should be most grateful to is Bo Yang, without him, such an ideal might not be realized. "Ten years of hard work is unusual", about the hardships and hardships in work: readers can get a glimpse of it from Bo Yang's postscript.I can’t help but think that Sima Qian endured humiliation in prison to complete the ancient masterpiece "Historical Records". In the past ten years, hasn’t Bo Yang just finished Bo Yang’s version in his own "reform through labor camp"?They jumped out from the grief and indignation of one person, one time and one place, condensed and sublimated, and created the most precious cultural assets in China.Just like Bo Yang said: "Make us belong to our own culture, make us have a sacred mission for future development."——Now, this is written for every Chinese, not just for the emperor. of!

Here I would also like to thank Mr. Zhan Hongzhi (the editor of Yuanliu).In 1983, he proposed to imitate the publishing method of magazines, issue one volume per month, and suggested setting up Boyang mailboxes (later known as ""Tong Jian" Square"), which not only solved the problem of publishing the long-term book publishing plan The marketing problem has made Boyang Edition establish a new mode of writing, publishing and reading books. ——The author writes the book, the publisher publishes the book, and the reader advises while reading, forming a virtuous cycle of three-way communication.Through such benign interactions, nearly 10,000 families around the world have used their "lifetime reading plan" (our marketing appeal) to form an unprecedented history reading movement in the past ten years.It is their unstinting praise, encouragement and criticism from the publication of the first volume in September 1983 to the present, which has supported us to go through the 3,650 days of wind and rain even stronger.Readers are power.We thank you!

There are too many people to thank.I will remember every member of the "Bo Yang Family" in the past ten years, every bit of effort they put in, and I will remember it in my heart.In Yuanliu, the ideal and courageous place of experimentation, only with their joint efforts can there be a bumper harvest at each stage (this group of staff, we call it the "Bo Yang Family"). The great translation project of Bo Yang Edition has finally been successfully completed!Completion is not an end, but another beginning.I asked Bo Yang: "What is the book you most want to write now?" His answer: "Still." I was stunned for a moment, and he widened his eyes and said: "I want to start from the beginning and revise and review book by book. , to make it more perfect.” ——As a publisher, the final version of Bo Yang’s version I know will not be truly completed until the day Bo Yang leaves this world.