The Commercial Press was established in Shanghai, 1897. At the beginning, I was mainly engaged in printing business, undertaking the printing of commercial bookkeeping, account books and advertisements, and also undertaking the printing of church bibles. This is purely a printing workshop. Later, China's modern printing industry began with the participation of Italian research, the recruitment of technicians, the inspection of eastern and western countries, and the creation of machines.
Although the progress of printing industry is closely related to culture, it is book publishing that brings great reputation to the Commercial Press. The Commercial Press first hired people to compile bilingual books in English and Chinese sporadically, and began to expand its business to publishing. It was not until 1902 that Zhang Yuanji joined the team of entrepreneurs that the Commercial Press really entered the publishing hall. At that time, China was experiencing internal troubles and foreign invasion, social upheaval and surging ideological trend, and seeking new and powerful countries became the mainstream. Zhang Yuanji is knowledgeable, well versed in China and the West, and far-sighted, which contributes to the cause of education. He set up a compilation department to recruit talents and specialize in compilation. By 193 1, more than 8,000 books have been published. Generally speaking: 1. New textbooks; 2. New western books; 3. Chinese and foreign reference books; 4. collation of ancient books; 5. The Commercial Press has developed from a small family workshop to the largest cultural and educational publishing institution in modern times.
With its rich publishing experience and economic strength, the Commercial Press has also become a distribution center for new culture books, with more than 80 branches in major cities across the country.
Hong Kong Branch of Commercial Press was established in 19 14. At first, it was operated as a store. Later, it set up a printing factory, an editorial department and a distribution department. It developed into a complete publishing organization, and published Hong Kong textbooks in 19 17, and published a complete set of textbooks suitable for Nanyang schools in 1930s. 1957 has been published for five years. After publishing textbooks, Chinese and foreign reference books, historical and cultural picture books, humanities and social sciences, it was registered as Commercial Press (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd., 1988.
The Modern Chinese Dictionary of the Commercial Press is the most authoritative one, as well as Xinhua Dictionary.