SDX Joint PublishingCompany (refer as Joint Publishing) was merged from three Shanghai leading publishers and bookstores, Life (生活书店), Reading (读书出版社), and New knowledge (新知书店) inthe1930s.Sinceitsestablishment, Joint Publishinghasplayedanactive rolethroughoutdifferent timesand is well-known for its fine historical tradition, strong social accountability, and humanistic spirit.The year 2022 marks the 90th anniversary of the founding ofJointpublishing. Onthis specialoccasion,Bookdao invitedXiao Qiming, Executive Director ofJoint Publishing, totalkabout the development ofthis historic publishing house.
Xiao Qiming, Executive Director of SDX Joint Publishing Company
Joint Publishinghas a long history and glorious tradition. Since its birth, it has always adhered to the tenet of “dedicated service to readers”,upheldthe concept of “humanistic spirit and wisdom of thought”, andpursuethe standard of “first-class andinnovative”.JointPublishingfocuseson humanities and social sciences,withpublicationsinphilosophy, history, literature, art, economy, politics, law, and social life, and gainsa high reputation among intellectual circles and readers.
Hong Kong Joint Publishing of Life Bookstore, Reading Press, and New Knowledge Bookstore (taken in 1948)
The founding meeting of SDX Joint Publishing Company (Hong Kong, October 26, 1948)
The academic and humanistic temperament ofJoint Publishing
Joint Publishingis known as the “spiritual home of readers”, which speaks toitsacademic and humanistic characteristics.This reputation, however,did notcomeovernight.
After it was incorporated into the People's Publishing House in 1951, the editorial department ofJoint Publishing, which was established separately, began to make comprehensive arrangements in the academic field, which wasset intwo key directions: one was to organize and publish valuable academic works ofexistingscholars; the other was toprepareand formulate a large-scale Plan for the Translation of World Academic Works (this plan was later diverted for various reasons).
During this period, a large number of valuable academic works were published one after another, such as Hegel's Logic, Philosophy of History, Keynes' General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money, Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, Chen Yinke's DraftEssays on theOriginsofSuiandTangInstitutions, Zhang Yinlin'sAnOutline of Chinese History (Shanggu), Xia Zengyou'sA History ofAncient China, Chen Dengyuan's Extracts of National History, etc., which provided a solid foundation for the academic publication ofJoint Publishing. Since then, academic publishing has become one ofitskey product lines.
After resuming its independent operation in 1986,Joint PublishingproducedThe Modern Western AcademicSeriesandThe New KnowledgeSeries. With these two collections, scholars such asJean-PaulSartre,SigmundFreud,ErichFromm,WalterBenjamin, andSamuelHuntington became household names in domestic academic circles, and readers were given as accurate and complete a picture as possible of the representative ideas of various modern Western academic schools, bridging academic exchanges at home and abroad. The academic status ofJoint Publishinghas been further solidified.
The Modern Western AcademicSeries（new edition）
In the 1990s,Joint Publishingformulated a development strategy of “one main and two wings”, placing academic publishing in the most important position. In addition to introducing the most cutting-edge academic works from abroad, thepublishing housealso focused on domestic scholars, publishing not only “The Qian Zhongshu Collection” and “Chen YinkeCollection”, “Qian Mu Works Series”, “Huang Renyu Works Series” and “Zhang GuangzhiWorks Series”,butalso “Sanlian Harvard-Yanjing Academic Series”, which mainlyincludes the original academic works of young scholars. At the same time, the originality of academic publishing was strengthened, and a series of works by important contemporary scholars such as Chen Lai, LiLing, Qian Liqun, Gan Yang, Wang Hui, Mao Haijian, ChenPingyuan, Rong Xinjiang, and Xin Deyong were released.
The first issue of the Reading Magazine
The 90-year-oldJoint Publishingalso has a humanisticuniqueness, as it has been home to a large number of scholars, publishers, and cultural figures who have enhanced the humanistic atmosphere and taste of thepublishing entitysince the inaugural issue oftheReadingmagazine launchedin 1979, entitled “Reading Without Bars”.
Culture Life Translation Series
The famous scholar Chen Lemin once said: The name of thispublishing house - Life, Reading，and New Knowledge -is synonymous with “culture” and “humanism”, whichembodies a taste and style that makes readers feel close and familiar. TheJoint Publishinghas always adhered to the spirit of humanism, from editors to authors,and in the process of exploring the unknown worldthey highly value the various spiritual and cultural phenomena left behind by mankind, constantly thinking about the original, learning from the outside, and facing the future.
Joint Publishing Company,ahistorical and yet fashionable
Looking back on the 90 years ofJoint Publishing, it has truly resonated with the times. In Xiao Qiming's view, the embodiedspirit ofJoint Publishingis “advancing with the times”.He said,“Joint Publishing has a long history, but she's fashionable.”
Young peopleare attracted by Joint Publishing’s books one group after another through every of itsimportantmilestone.During its infancy,Joint Publishingplayed a pioneering role with books such as Popular Philosophy and Capital, as well as On Protracted War published during the War of Resistance.
With the progress and opening of society and the development of the economy,Joint Publishingalso keenly captured the needs of readers and introduced a large number of foreign works, allowing the nation to broaden its horizons and absorb the advanced ideas of the West through these books.At the same time,Joint Publishingalso attaches great importance to the original works of prominent domestic scholars, giving these scholars a stage to exchange ideas with readers. In the documentary 90 Years ofJoint Publishing, several scholars review their experiences from reading Joint Publishing’s bookto finally becomingtheirauthors.
Joint Publishing isalsogood at topic selection, turning those unexpected topics into popular books and trends. Xiao Qiming cites archaeology books as an example of this feature. In the 1990s, the Reading Magazine planned a series of archaeology topics, leading the academic community, from looking to the West, back to its traditional values. In themeantime, Joint Publishing is proud to have promoted archaeology to the general public through a series of archaeological and cultural books for the general public and to have contributed to the archaeological boom.
In recent years, with the rise of new media,Joint Publishinghas followed the trend and innovated boldly, and its transformation and upgrading have been fruitful.Sanlian Lifeweek Magazinehas been particularly successful in its transformation and upgrading, as it has developed from a traditional paper media to a new media matrix.The influence of its out-of-circle publication can in turn feedJoint Publishing's book publishing, and readers can learn more aboutJoint Publishing's works through new media channels.
Celebrate the 90th anniversary in many forms, and continue to polish the brand of “Joint Publishing” in the future
On the occasion of the 90th anniversary ofJoint Publishing, a symposium was held in Beijing, which was promoted by media including Guangming Daily, China Press, Publication, Radio, Filmand TelevisionJournal, China ReadingWeekly, China Publishing and MediaJournal, and Bookdao.com. Joint Publishing is taking stock of the past and looking to the future through this series of celebrations.
Xiao Qiming elaborated on the future development plan ofJoint Publishingfrom four aspects:
First, to produce good booksinthematic publishing. At the same time, it will continue to launch quality books in humanities and academic fields, and also publish masterpieces for the general public.
Second,to developtheoversea market. Over the years,Joint Publishinghas laid a very good foundation in theoversea marketand will continue to carry forward in this area.
Third,transformation and upgrading, integration and development.Previously, the achievements of a series of new media, with Sanlian Lifeweek as the core, have led the way for the overall transformation and upgrading, digital development, and integration development.In the future,wewill achieve better results in this aspect of integration development.
Fourth, to create a highland of publishing talents. TheJoint Publishingshould not onlyfocus onbooks but alsopeople, and be able to cultivate better publishing management and editing talents, as well as talents for integration anddevelopment.