Chapter 20 Sealed book of figures in corporate history by Kikuo

On October 17, 1927, five men armed with guns broke into a residence on Jisfeer Road (now known as Wanhangdu Road) in Shanghai and kidnapped Zhang Yuanji (1867-1959) who was having dinner.The kidnappers demanded 300,000 yuan.One of the kidnappers saw a hole in the sweater Zhang was wearing, and thought it was strange, so he asked, do you wear ragged clothes even if you are so rich?Zhang Yuanji is really not a rich man. After he was kidnapped, his family sold their stocks and jewelry and only made up 5,000 yuan. 10,000 yuan, six days later he had to release him with 10,000 yuan. Zhang Yuanji, who was wearing a sweater with holes, was indeed the largest publishing businessman in China at that time. In the 1920s, Shanghai's cultural industry once created an astonishing miracle: the city's annual book publishing volume was greater than the annual book publishing volume of the United States.The creator of the miracle is Zhang Yuanji and the Commercial Press led by him.

Zhang Yuanji was born in Haiyan, Zhejiang, and his name was Jusheng.He was a Jinshi during the Guangxu period. He once served as the head of the Ministry of Punishment and Zhang Jing, the prime minister of the State Affairs Office.During his official career, he shared concerns with state affairs with Cai Yuanpei, an editor of the Imperial Academy who was one year younger than him, and a Jinshi from the same province in the same year, and they became friends. In 1898, his official room entered a new Zhangjing who had just been appointed. He was Kang Youwei, the famous leader of the reformers all over the world.Zhang and Cai actively participated in the Kangliang Reform. After the Reform Movement of 1898, Zhang Yuanji was "removed from his post and will never be employed" by the imperial court, so he was invited by Sheng Xuanhuai to serve as the director of the Translation Academy at Shanghai Nanyang Public School (now Jiaotong University). Cai Yuanpei also determined to educate, Later, he also served as the head teacher of Nanyang Public School. In 1902, Zhang Yuanji suddenly resigned from school and became the director of the Commercial Press, a small printing factory in Zhabei.It was also in this year that the imperial court promulgated the "Imperial School Regulations". Zhang Yuanji deeply felt that the new education lacked a new and unified textbook, so he worked with Cai Yuanpei to design a new educational policy. Two years later, the "Latest Textbook" Chinese When the first volume was published, it was sold out as soon as it hit the market. It was this meager textbook that pushed the Commercial Press, which had only one Shikumen house at that time, onto the ladder of success.Within a few months, "The Latest Textbook" sold more than 100,000 copies, becoming the only new-style textbook that replaced the Four Books and Five Classics in schools all over the country.By 1911, when the Qing court fell, Zhang Yuanji had published a total of 375 kinds of textbooks for all grades and subjects, with a total of 801 volumes, that is, 8 volumes were compiled every month, completing an unprecedented cultural project.The economic benefits of the Commercial Press are naturally astonishing, and it has become the largest publishing and printing enterprise in the country.

After the founding of the Republic of China, Zhang Yuanji launched 113 kinds of "Republic Textbooks". From 1919 to 1937, he used more than 50 public and private collections at home and abroad to photocopy and publish "Si Bu Series", "Xu Gu Yi Series", and "Twenty-Four Books" in Baina edition. There are 610 titles and nearly 20,000 volumes in three series of "History". Zhang Yuanji almost preserved all the essence of traditional Chinese culture by himself. This work was only attempted by Emperor Qianlong who ordered the compilation of "Siku Quanshu" before.In order to popularize new knowledge, he invested in editing and publishing a large-scale encyclopedia-like low-cost popular series "Wanyou Library", which published 2,000 volumes. He also presided over the compilation of my country's first new dictionary "Ciyuan", creating a modern reference book. These publications have played an inestimable enlightenment role in the awakening of the national humanistic spirit.At the same time, he founded a translation office to edit and translate works at home and abroad. In 1925, there were 286 experts from all walks of life, and the stars were shining, including almost half of the high-ranking guests in the literary world at that time.In its heyday, the Commercial Press covered an area of ​​80 mu, with an asset scale of more than 20 million yuan. It had 1,200 machines, 4,500 employees, and 43 branch libraries. New books were published every day.The Commercial Press also edited and published more than ten kinds of magazines with large circulation, such as "Oriental Magazine", "Fiction Monthly", "Education Magazine", "Women's Magazine" and "Student Magazine", etc. Two related interactive industries.

Since 1919, Beijing was ruled by warlords, and a large number of literati went south to Shanghai, creating an unprecedentedly prosperous cultural scene. In the Shanghai cultural circle in the 1920s, a number of cultural businessmen with bold ambitions and proficiency in business strategy emerged. In addition to Zhang Yuanji, there was also Shi Liangcai who ran the "China's largest newspaper" and "Shenbao", and shot the first film. Zhang Shichuan of the martial arts film "Burning the Red Lotus Temple" and his star film company, and Wu Liande who founded the country's largest circulation pictorial "Liangyou" - "Liangyou" was first published in 1926, until 10 years later, Henry · Lu Sicai founded the first similar large-scale lifestyle pictorial in the United States, "Life", Huang Chujiu, who runs the largest amusement park in Asia, "Big World", and so on.It was under the impetus of these people that Shanghai replaced Beijing as the new cultural center, and its cultural characteristics were "double betrayal and inheritance of traditional culture and foreign models."Before the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, Shanghai had more than 30 radio stations, 36 movie theaters, and more than 200 kinds of magazines—almost equivalent to 95% of the total number of magazines in the country, and gathered 86% of the country's publishing houses.Zhang Yuanji also built the Oriental Library, the largest public library in the Far East, with a collection of 463,000 volumes, of which 80,000 volumes are foreign editions.

Zhang Yuanji was born in a traditional literati family, but he completely borrowed from the management model of Western companies in his business operations. The Commercial Press has very sound management rules and regulations. Zhang is always serious in his factory and treats everyone very seriously.In day-to-day management, he pays close attention to two things, one is technology and the other is talent.At that time, the global printing industry was in the cycle of technological revolution. In order to improve efficiency and competitiveness, Zhang Yuanji paid great attention to every detail of printing technology. Every time shareholders held a meeting, the most time-consuming discussion was how to update equipment. He There is also an unwritten rule that every top management should go abroad for study and study.As for talents, he is even more eclectic and uses only talents. Once, a trainee in his early 20s wrote to him, pointing out some mistakes in the newly published "Ciyuan". He thought it was a talent, so he promoted him As the editor-in-chief of "Novel Monthly", this young man named Shen Yanbing later became an important writer in the history of modern literature under the pseudonym "Mao Dun".When he retired, his chosen successor, Wang Yunwu, did not have any academic qualifications and was a self-taught genius.As the general manager of the largest publishing organization in China, Zhang Yuanji has supported countless young people for decades. In the future, many literati will use the definite article when recalling him: "Benefactor Zhang Yuanji".

Zhang Yuanji refused to become an official several times, and devoted his life to publishing, which was quite different from his old friend Cai Yuanpei who wandered between education and politics.He once said in a letter to Cai: "Building the cause of publishing can promote the majority of the people, which seems to be more important than educating a few talents." It is truly a beautiful thing to create the largest bookstore and the most important institution of higher learning in China. The only thing Zhang Yuanji loved in his life was books. He hung a small wooden sign at the door of his house on Jisfeier Road, with four characters written on it: "Buy old books." On January 28, 1932, Chinese and Japanese troops fought in Zhabei, Shanghai. Six incendiary bombs were thrown at the Baoshan Road General Factory of the Press, and the factory was completely reduced to ashes. The Japanese army also set fire to the Oriental Library. According to newspaper records at the time, at that time, thick smoke covered the sky in Shanghai, and paper ashes flew ten miles away. After the fire was extinguished, the paper ash was knee-deep, and the five-story building became an empty shell, which was horrible.According to statistics, the loss of assets of the Commercial Press was 16.3 million yuan, accounting for 80% of the total assets.The entire collection of books in the Oriental Library, including more than 3,700 kinds of rare books and ancient books, totaling 35,000 volumes; the most complete local chronicles in the country, totaling more than 2,600 types, totaling 25,000 volumes, were all burned. This became the greatest pain in Zhang Yuanji's life.At the age of 65, he was in pain, but he quickly cheered up and said, "There is still a breath left, and we should still try to recover." Six months later, the printing factory resumed normal production.During the Anti-Japanese War, the Commercial Press moved to Sichuan, and the Japanese army confiscated 4.6 million books and 50 tons of type in the Shanghai factory.Zhang Yuanji stayed on the "isolated island" and refused to cooperate with the Japanese and Wang Jingwei's government. When life was difficult, he would rather sell calligraphy for a living.One time, two Japanese scholars asked to see each other, and he wrote eight characters on the back of each other's business cards: "The two countries are at war, so it is inconvenient to talk."Once again, Fu Shiyue, the governor of Zhejiang under Wang Jingwei's government, sent a picture scroll and asked him to inscribe it with a check of 110,000 yuan. It's very deep... so I dare not follow my orders."

After the founding of New China, Zhang Yuanji was invited to participate in the founding ceremony.Both he and Cai Yuanpei had seen Emperor Guangxu, Yuan Shikai, Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong with their own eyes.At this time, Cai Yuanpei had passed away in 1940, and he was the only one who had experienced the change of three dynasties, witnessed five leaders, and accidentally left an unmatched record. Zhang Yuanji died in August 1959 at the age of 93.In his later years, a younger generation asked him, "Are you a literati or a businessman?" His face was ashen, and he didn't say a word.