The Surging News reporter Luo Xin
Life Bookstore, which has a profound impact on the history of Chinese publishing, was born in the 1930s when the nation was in crisis. Later, together with reading and new knowledge, it formed the familiar triptych bookstore.
Looking back at history, in the midst of war artillery fire and seizures, raids, and store closures, a number of "life bookstore meeting records" have been displaced with the life bookstore fans, and have rarely been preserved. This batch of archives has a large amount of information, self-contained system, and relatively complete preservation, which is a rare historical material unique to the collection of Shanghai Taofen Memorial Museum. The information contained in it is like a rich mine, which not only allows future generations to approach Zou Taofen, Xu Boxin, Hu Yuzhi, Zhang Zhongshi and other generations of intellectuals, understand the development process of life bookstores, and delve into the study of publishing history in the same period, but also has a reference effect on today's publishing management, operation and decision-making.
In 2018, in order to commemorate the 123rd anniversary of Mr. Taofen's birth and the 60th anniversary of the opening of Shanghai Taofen Memorial Hall, Shanghai Taofen Memorial Hall launched the photocopying and publication plan of the collection of documents, and the "Minutes of the Meeting of the Life Bookstore" was photocopied and published in four volumes. Among them, there are not only resolutions on the development of bookstores, opening branches, relocation, discussions on personnel appointments and removals, reporting of operating data, etc., but also internal employee benefits, such as accommodation expenses, meal expenses, travel expenses, salary increases and decreases, etc., which are all detailed and completely record the internal management, operation status and development process of the life bookstore. Previously, "Life Bookstore Meeting Minutes 1933-1937", "Life Bookstore Meeting Minutes 1938-1939", "Life Bookstore Meeting Minutes 1939-1940" have been published by Zhonghua Bookstore, and the latest publication of "Life Bookstore Meeting Minutes 1940-1945" is the fourth series of "Taofen Memorial Museum Collection Literature Series" and the last series of "Life Bookstore Meeting Minutes".
Minutes of the Living Bookstore Meeting 1940-1945 was published by Zhonghua Bookstore
On December 11, the first launch event of the new book "Life Bookstore Meeting Minutes 1940-1945" was held in Shanghai Zhongban Bookstore. Professor Chen Zishan of East China Normal University, Zhou Limin, executive deputy director of Ba Jin Memorial Hall, and Zhao Shulei, director of Shanghai Taofen Memorial Hall, came to the study room to share the historical story of the life bookstore with readers.
From left to right: Zhou Limin, executive deputy director of The Ba Jin Memorial Hall, Chen Zishan, professor of East China Normal University, and Zhao Shulei, director of the Shanghai Taofen Memorial Hall
Many pictures and texts were made public for the first time, vividly restoring history
The time span of the archives collected in "Life Bookstore Meeting Minutes 1940-1945" from May 29, 1940 to March 24, 1945, including the minutes of the sixth council meeting of the life bookstore, the minutes of the meeting of the sixth personnel committee, the minutes of the meetings of the sixth council, the personnel committee and the supervision committee, the records of the standing committee of the sixth joint meeting of the rational, human and supervisory boards and the joint meeting records of Yugui District, the minutes of the social affairs end meeting, the minutes of the meeting of the new institutional committee, the internal regional management office, The end of the social affairs meeting, the minutes of the joint meeting of the drafting meeting of the new organization, and the appendix selected collection submissions and letters.
Tao Fen, "To Shen Junru and Other Leaders of The Opposition Anti-Japanese Parties" (February 25, 1941)
They not only restore the 56 branches of the Life Bookstore from the heyday of the full-scale, which were framed and destroyed, leaving only the true record of the Chongqing Branch, but also witnessed the struggle of how the Life Bookstore fought heroically in the darkest moment on the eve of the victory of the War of Resistance. At the same time, the book is also accompanied by a large number of historical pictures, including Tao Fen's letter to Shen Jun, a group photo of colleagues in the Life Bookstore, and Mao Dun's commemorative article for Tao Fen's death anniversary, many of which are made public for the first time.
Mao Dun's article commemorating the anniversary of Tao Fenzuo's death (July 1945) was first published
"As of today, the minutes of the 'Life Bookstore Meeting' have been officially released." In 1977, Chen Zishan was introduced by Hu Yuzhi and visited Xu Boxin to annotate Lu Xun's letters. In Chen Zishan's view, people did not understand the development process of life bookstores before, but fortunately, there are such a batch of vivid and true historical materials, which have left precious memories for future generations. "Life Bookstore is a comprehensive publishing house that does literature, thought, and natural science, covering a wide range of aspects. It is very closely related to our modern literature, Hu Yuzhi himself is a translator, not to mention Zou Taofen, his prose, essays, notes, and reviews are closely related to modern literature. ”
In the new "Minutes of the Life Bookstore Meeting 1940-1945", Chen Zishan constantly saw Mao Dun, who was also an important participant in the Life Bookstore. In Mao Dun's own memoirs, he does not seem to have expanded to talk about this matter, he has experienced too many things, and there are too many things to recall, so the value of this batch of records in the Life Bookstore is reflected. In the future, if we want to supplement Mao Dun's biography, these records must be mentioned: on a certain day in a certain month of a certain year, he participated in a meeting or something in the life bookstore. Such a reduction is interesting. Many of the decisions of the Life Bookstore at that time, how they were discussed, how they were decided, who agreed and who opposed, were clearly recorded and vivid. I think this set of books will not only be beneficial to our research on life bookstores, but will play a very good first-hand historical role in the study of the entire publishing history. ”
Looking back at the past of the life bookstore, the past is not like smoke
Zhou Limin divided the development process of the life bookstore into the following stages: from the founding of the "Life" weekly magazine in October 1925 to the announcement of independent operation in June 1932, laying a solid reader base for the later life bookstore, this stage can be regarded as the preparation period of the life bookstore; in 1932, the life bookstore was officially founded, and in 1937, the anti-japanese war broke out in full swing, the life bookstore was blue and innovative, which was its development and growth period; after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the focus of the life bookstore was moved from Shanghai to Hankou. It was moved to Chongqing again, in a short period of time, in the unfavorable environment of wartime, in line with the situation, echoing the voices of the people, a total of 56 branches of the store throughout the country during the heyday, this stage was a period of struggle against the trend; from March 1939, with the temporary business office of Tianmushan in Zhejiang And the Xi'an branch was closed, a number of branches were sealed, investigated, and forced to end automatically, and by June 1941, only one branch of chongqing was left - thus, the Life Bookstore began its period of hard struggle; until 1947 With Reading and New Knowledge, the three bookstores were completely merged to form a triptych bookstore, and the life bookstore completed its historical mission.
Group photo of the anniversary of Chongqing Sanlian Branch (1946)
From the perspective of summarizing historical experience, Zhou Limin believes that the experience or spiritual tradition of life bookstores that deserve attention has at least the following points: First, the "spirit of service" that Taofen has repeatedly emphasized is its core. Second, the concept and practice of modern enterprise management in life bookstores deserve attention. Third, the life bookstore has a unique cultural atmosphere, and it is also an important foundation for all kinds of management and spirit to be effective and fruitful. Fourth, Life Bookstore has always stood at the forefront of the times and supported the cause of the just struggle. Fifth, the spirit of hard work and dedication to ideals.
"Our modern publishing institutions are often dominated by the literati style, attaching importance to friendship and circles, and attaching importance to the cultural quality of books, which are all advantages. But there is also an obvious disadvantage, that is, cultural people may not know much about management, do not understand management, including the early creation of the publishing department is a very advanced concept of the publishing department, all know for the social offering, but in the end the main staff fell apart, a few years of glory on the hasty passed. The typical feature of literati publishing is that it comes according to its own interests, but it lacks a lot in terms of operation and management. Therefore, Zhou Limin believes that it is very rare to plan and manage the life bookstore of the publishing house in a modern way from the beginning, "these records still have a lot to learn." ”
Beyond experience, he believes that the spiritual traditions left by the Living Bookstore are equally worth cherishing. "More than eighty years later, the past is not like smoke. Today, looking through the minutes of this meeting of the different life bookstores, what I see is not words, not ink, nor yellowed paper, but a figure that has gone forward and followed, a group of dusty servants, a period of hard and unforgettable years. ”
Editor-in-Charge: Zhang Zhe
Proofreader: Zhang Liangliang