The main distribution office of the World Book Company at the beginning of its establishment
In the thirteenth year of the Republic of China (1924), "Drawing the Dream of Red Mansions" was published by the World Book Company
An advertisement in Ta Kung Pao by the World Book Company
In the history of publishing, we should remember Shen Zhifang, not only because he founded the World Book Company, the third largest bookstore in the history of modern publishing, published more than 5,000 kinds of books, and made important contributions to the development of Chinese culture, but also because of his distribution talent and commercial endowment, he brought more fierce competition into the publishing world, and had a non-negligible impact on improving the management level of the entire book industry.
Shen Zhifang (1882-1939), formerly known as Zhifang, was born in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, and his ancestors were from a family of book collectors. When Shen was young, he was sent by his father to be an apprentice in Kuizhaolou Bookstore in Shaoxing, and entered the Guangyi Book Company in Shanghai in 1899 and the Commercial Press in 1900. During his apprenticeship career, he was familiar with the book industry in various places, cultivated a strong sense of business, and accumulated rich market experience. He worked in business, although he was not reused, but he was deeply appreciated by his boss Xia Ruifang and was interested in it. It is said that Shen often does not go to work on time in business, colleagues have gossip, shareholders also have gossip, Xia Ruifang protects him, saying that he is "talented", once he is allowed to leave, it will become a business problem in the future. Xia's prophecy is unfortunately true. In 1912, the rival of commerce, Zhonghua Book Company, was founded, and the following year, Shen Zhifang was dug into a corner by Zhonghua and entrusted with the important position of deputy director of Zhonghua Book Bureau. At the shareholders' meeting of Chung Hwa Book Company on April 20, 1913, Lu Feikui, director of the bureau, made a special paragraph to evaluate him: "Shen Zhifang (Zhifang) Jun is quite experienced in business, and he has been appointed deputy director of the bureau from the Commercial Press, and he has been in the bureau for more than two months, which is very effective. Shen's "effectiveness" is mainly attributed to his ingenuity in promoting influential and appealing squires in various places, and opening many joint ventures with Zhonghua Book Company, which solved the problem of insufficient funds and manpower at the beginning of Zhonghua Book Company's creation, and it is imperative to open branches to compete with business. This method, with low investment, quick results, and strong competitiveness, ensured the needs of the rapid development of Chung Hwa Book Company in the first few years, and also established the publishing position of Chung Hwa and Commerce.
When Shen Zhifang, who broke away from the Chung Hwa Book Company in 1922, began to raise the publication of primary and secondary school textbooks with great fanfare at the World Book Company, it was not only the Commercial Press that was facing the enemy, but also the Chung Hwa Book Company. The two rivals in the past joined forces at this time and jointly founded the National Book Company, dumping textbooks at prices as low as below cost, trying to squeeze out the World Book Company, but they still failed. In terms of quality, the three are actually between Zhong Bo, and Shen's trick to win is that he has found a new way to sell textbooks. The textbook distribution model of commerce and China is to open branches in large and medium-sized cities across the country, while the World Book Company has gone further, extending the terminal of the textbook sales network to the counties and towns beyond the reach of commerce and China, and taking the road of "rural areas surrounding cities". After paying a part of the deposit to the World Book Company in advance, bookstores in other places have the right to hang up the signboard of "a special distribution office of the World Book Company" or even a "branch of the World Book Company" and enjoy the exclusive business of all the books of the society in a certain area, thus greatly arousing the enthusiasm of bookstores in various localities to sell the world's edition of textbooks. For the World Book Company, there is no need for the headquarters to send cadres, no need to spend money on renting houses and decorations, and only need to sell a certain number of books to the distribution office on credit, which is simple and easy. This was a good way to benefit both the community and the store, and it was an instant success.
Shen Zhifang is a genius in publishing textbooks and a master of publishing best-selling books. He is familiar with the reading tastes of ordinary readers, and has a good sense of smell and extraordinary courage in capturing the subject matter of bestsellers. In the early and mid-1920s, when the works of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly School were popular, the World Book Company either sorted out old novels, typeset them with new punctuation and sold them cheaply, or they promised to "buy out" the works of popular writers such as Zhang Hatshui and Bu Xiaosheng (Xiang Kairan) for high remuneration, and published some popular bestsellers with great influence and wide marketing. In addition, Shen Zhifang adopts the publishing strategy of book and periodical interaction, and publishes related magazines at the same time as publishing books. "Happy Life" edited by Li Hanqiu and Zhang Yunshi, "Red Magazine" edited by Yan Duhe and Shi Jiqun, "Red Rose" edited by Yan Duhe and Zhao Yuanfang, "Family Magazine" edited by Jiang Hongjiao, and "Detective World" edited by Shi Jiqun and Cheng Xiaoqing were all popular at home and abroad for a while under the powerful propaganda offensive of the World Book Company. As a result, the World Book Company became the most important publishing position of the Mandarin Duck and Butterfly faction at that time, and gained a lot of economic benefits.
After the May Fourth Movement, Shen Zhifang catered to the trend of the times and published many essays, rulers and other books for people to learn and imitate, which were greatly welcomed by the student community. During the Great Revolution from 1924 to 1927, Shen Zhifang figured out the trend of the current situation and specially instructed the Guangzhou branch of the World Book Company, located in the base camp of the revolution, to collect revolutionary propaganda pamphlets such as "Questions and Answers on National Politics" and "Questions and Answers of the Peasant Association" nearby, send them to Shanghai in batches for editing and processing, and then publish and distribute them in the names of Guangzhou World Book Company and Guangzhou Republic Book Company. When the Northern Expedition was raging in the southern provinces, the revolutionary pamphlets that the World Book Company boldly published also tasted the fruits of commercial victory.
At the end of the 20s of the last century, the Chinese people who had been baptized by the New Culture Movement had deeply realized the importance of scientific knowledge in real life. Just as the Commercial Press was seizing the opportunity and was busy compiling and printing small series of popular books in various disciplines, Shen Zhifang also saw this realistic reading need, and invited Xu Weinan to edit a set of ABC books, a total of more than 150 titles, which were published in June 1928. Published a year before the Commercial Press's Universal Library, this series has achieved great commercial success due to its comprehensive subject range, simple content, strong lineup of authors, and suitable for readers. At the same time, the World Book Company has also changed its image as a low-level bookstore that used to publish Mandarin Duck and Butterfly books and periodicals in the minds of readers. This is exactly what the World Book Company, which entered the textbook field in the mid-20s of the last century, hoped for. Many of the academic and cultural books and periodicals it published later were the result of its deliberate adjustment of its publishing strategy and the enhancement of its publishing image. Although the World Book Company continues to print those popular novels, it has quietly changed to publish them under the names of Guangshu Company and Puyi Book Company. The World Book Company only nominally occupies a distribution position in order to show society that it is a decent bookseller who publishes textbooks.
Shen Zhifang is also an expert in raising funds. Cheng Xiaoqing, a writer of detective novels, said that Shen "has a special technique of spitting lotus flowers in his mouth to raise shares." Wu Yunzhai, the manager of Jincheng Bank, and Chen Jiageng, the leader of overseas Chinese, were all early directors of the World Book Company, and many important people in the business and judicial circles became the major shareholders of the World Book Company. Shen Zhifang also often pulls authors into shares and uses bookstore shares to pay authors. Authors become shareholders and are often willing to accept dividends at the end of the year, while for bookstores, they can save a sum of cash manuscript fees and have a close relationship with authors, which can be said to be a good place for both worlds. Around 1930, Shen Zhifang initiated the establishment of the World Commercial and Savings Bank, absorbing social funds, and in addition to using the needs of the bookstore, he also used the extra savings to purchase real estate, hoping that if necessary, he could sell it for a profit or provide collateral for circulation. However, due to the turbulence of the times, real estate prices were sluggish and fell, which affected the development of the World Book Company. At the end of each year, when the World Book Company talks to him, the general manager, he always hears him say concisely and forcefully: "Start from scratch next year!"
In the history of publishing, we should remember Shen Zhifang, not only because he founded the World Book Company, the third largest bookstore in the history of modern publishing, published more than 5,000 kinds of books, and made important contributions to the development of Chinese culture, but also because of his distribution talent and commercial endowment, he brought more fierce competition into the publishing world, and had a non-negligible impact on improving the management level of the entire book industry. Shen Zhifang's book industry has shown the characteristics of a businessman. For the sake of commercial profits, he also did some outrageous things, for example, he once conspired with Xu Zhiyan, a native of Changzhou, to publish Xu's forged "Shi Dakai's Diary", which sold very well, but the means were very insignificant. He is also arrogant and arrogant, and he doesn't look down on his peers. But he was fundamentally different from those unscrupulous merchants, and when the national disaster came, he showed the respectable integrity of a patriotic publisher. After the Japanese army occupied Shanghai in August 1937, they forcibly occupied the main factory of Shanghai World Book Company on Dalian Bay Road in Hongkou as a military camp, and threatened World Book Company to cooperate with them. After Shen Zhifang's opposition, the Japanese puppet created a time bomb explosion at the World Book Company in November 1938, resulting in the death and injury of one bookstore staff. In 1939, when Shen Zhifang was seriously ill, he made a will: "When he has recently suffered a national disaster, he will not be tempted or threatened", and ordered his descendants not to compromise with the Japanese puppet. On September 11 of the same year, Shen Zhifang died of illness in Shanghai. (Wu Yonggui)
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