The Research Of Zhang Yuanji's Managing Thoughts On Editing And Publishing Of The Textbook

Zhang Yuanji is a famous editor and publisher in China in the 20 century. He is the pioneer of the new publishing industry and the soul of The Commercial Press. Having devoted himself to the publishing industry, he accomplished the great centennial achievements of the Commercial Press. He created a brand-new picture respected and admired by many followers. In the process of developing from a semi-colonial, semi-feudal society to a modern one, there appeared a movement of technologization and marketization in the Chinese publishing industry. It broke through the old pattern of the ancient Chinese publication and changed for the requirement of adapting to the interest of the common people. It showed the flourishing power of the publishing industry. Against this social background, taking saving the nation and the people as his responsibility, Zhang yuanji changed his ideology from elite education to mass education, and showed great interest in modern publication. It was this gradual maturity of such inward thoughts and outward conditions that made Zhang's transference from a governmental official of Qing Dynasty to a leading figure of modern publication. With this as a new start, he began to engage himself in the career of enlightening the people, aiding education and promoting the nation. When he became in charge of the editing and translating of the Commercial Press, Zhang Yuanji established the publishing ideology of "aiding education by publishing". He gained sharp insight in the requirement for the development of the new education in the transitional period of Chinese society, and set his hand to organizing the editing of new textbooks, so he started the editing and publishing of new textbooks in modern China. The new textbooks edited by him were in accordance with modern education principles, emphasized the learning psychology of students, broke through the trap of the traditional enlightenment reading, melted in modern scientific and cultural knowledge. These have had great influence on the enlightenment of the thoughts and culture in Chinese modern society. In 1902, Zhang Yuanji edited a set of textbooks entitled "the Latest Textbooks", which turned out to be the first set of textbooks with modern educational significance. Afterwards, the editing principles established by this set of textbooks became the model of editing textbooks for every publishing press. Zhang Yuanji's new editorial thoughts of textbooks are worth studying for us. Having taking the trend of modernization of Chinese publication, Zhang Yuanji led the Commercial Press to searching for the way of modern industrial system. In as early as 1903, the Commercial Press tried the corporation system and set up an incorporated corporation and found out an effective way of finance by collecting stocks, so that the Commercial Press had its board of directors, general manager and board of supervisors, which are the three basic factors for a complete modern industrial system. In the same year, the Commercial Press introduced 100,000 Yuan from the Kinkoudo(金港堂) Publish Press,the biggest textbook publisher of Japan, and set up the joint-capital principle, that is, "self-centered and profit-shared". In this way the Commercial Press established its leading position in stock holding. At the same time, Zhang Yuanji set up the idea of "Big Publication", he promoted education, opened up industry and run many schools, stationary equipments and toy manufactories. In this way, the Commercial Press developed from just a printing industry to the biggest cultural corporation, which combined editing, publishing and distributing together. This offers reference and reflection for the present publishing presses in changing towards industrial entities, setting up modern industrial systems and taking part in competition. It also makes us liberate our ideas, change our thoughts, gain creativity so that we can carry on the innovation of cultural and industrial system. Zhang Yuanji put the idea of cultural education to the publishing activities of the Commercial Pre...