CLASSICS PUBLISHING HOUSES

With a long and well-documented history, China takes classics publishing seriously. Apart from dedicated classics publishing houses, other presses such as the Commercial Press in Hong Kong also devote much of their efforts to classics publication. Major players like Zhonghua Book Company established in 1912 and Shanghai Classics Publishing House started in 1956 have been very active in classics publication.

China’s opening to the outside world with its massive economic reform programme resulted in a surge of interest in re-evaluating Chinese ancient heritage. Classics publishing houses mushroomed: Beijing Classics Publishing House and Zhong Zhou Ancient Books in 1979, and Tianjin Ancient Books and Mao Wen Ancient Books in 1983.

Focusing on local chronicles, regionally collected classics and various reference books on ancient Chinese literature and history, they also publish learning aids related to their published classics. They also take on classics-publishing projects assigned by the central government. Take Zhonghua Book Company, for example. Since its relocation to Beijing in 1954, it has processed, compiled and published over 2,000 kinds of Chinese classics covering the areas of literature, history and philosophy. They include Taiping yujian [Lessons for Emperors in Times of Peace], Yongle dadian [Yongle Canon] and Siku quanshu zongmu [Accumulative Index to the Complete Library in Four Branches of Literature]. The Commercial Press, on the other hand, specializes in publishing rare books of classics. In 1980, the Chinese Traditional Medicine Classics Publishing House was established, specializing in the publication of classics on Chinese traditional medicine.