ChinaDaily News (970509-8)

[root]

China Daily

97 / 05 / 09 /

***************************************************************************
1. Commercial Press earns a famed page in history
2. Culture Notes (Page 9, Date: 05/09/97)
3. Camera is Li's best friend
4. What's on (Page 10, Date: 05/09/97)
***************************************************************************

Commercial Press earns a famed page in history

THE Commercial Press, a symbol of the modern Chinese publishing
industry, has experienced the vicissitudes of 100 years.

Sponsored by the State Press and Publications Administration and the
Commercial Press, a grand celebration was held yesterday at the Great
Hall of the People in Beijing to mark the centennial birthday of the
Commercial Press and the start of the modern Chinese publishing
industry.

Party and State leaders Jiang Zemin, Li Peng, Qiao Shi, Li Ruihuan and
Li Tieying wrote inscriptions for the event, encouraging publishers to
follow the tradition of the Commercial Press and make fresh
contributions to China's modernization drive.

Present at yesterday's celebration were more than 1,000 participants
from Beijing's cultural, educational, academic, press and publishing
circles. The participants also included heads of the Commercial Press
branches in Singapore and Malaysia as well as the regions of Hong Kong
and Taiwan. Some influential foreign publishers who have co-publishing
relations with the Commercial Press were also present.

Over its 100-year history, the Commercial Press has published 30,000
titles. Almost every Chinese has benefited from its textbooks,
dictionaries, Chinese classics or translated Western classics. It is
no exaggeration to say the Commercial Press is China's publishing
giant.

The Commercial Press was founded in Shanghai in 1897. The key founders
were Xia Ruifang, Bao Xian'en, Bao Xianchang and Gao Fengchi. They
launched the Commercial Press with money pooled by seven investors.
The use of modern equipment and publication of much-needed educational
books brought the business success in a short time.

After Zhang Yuanji (1867-1959) joined the business in 1902, the
Commercial Press began to reflect a fundamental change. Zhang was
considered a liberal patriotic reformer in the late Qing Dynasty and
China's leading publisher after 1900. He contributed substantially to
China's modernization in his quiet, pragmatic way.

Zhang attained intellectual maturity under Confucianism, and yet was
open-minded enough to accept Western philosophies and to adopt Western
practices of entrepreneurship. His intense patriotic drive to
introduce progressive learning for China's benefit, while popularizing
the best of classical heritage, was coupled with the belief that there
could be no genuine changes unless intellectuals became modernized in
outlook, well-informed of world affairs and imbued with a progressive
spirit.

In its early days, the Commercial Press was active in introducing "new
learning" -- natural and social sciences of the West -- having
published quite a few classics written by such Western scholars as
Thomas Henry Huxley, Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill and Montesquieu.

After the "May 4th Movement" of 1919, a political and cultural
anti-imperialist and anti-feudal movement, publications of the
Commercial Press began to cover the areas of philosophy, literature
and arts.

At that time, the Commercial Press served as a "cradle" of Chinese
literary masters. The two famous examples were Yan Fu and Lin Shu. Yan
was the first Chinese scholar devoted to translating Western classics
into Chinese. His principle for translations -- faithfulness,
transformation and elegance -- is still widely accepted as the
standard.

Lin was a master of ancient Chinese but his fame was established by
his translations of Western fiction into beautiful Chinese. Lin knew
neither English nor French. His "translations" were actually retelling
stories orally translated by others. The Commercial Press published
his versions of well-known Western novels and they became
best-sellers.

In 1932, the Commercial Press was destroyed by Japanese bombs and the
500,000 collected books were burned. Nevertheless, the staff managed
to publish books independently.

The Commercial Press moved to Beijing in 1954, five years after the
People's Republic of China was founded.

In accordance with publishing tasks specified by the State, the
Commercial Press has focused on three aspects: compiling, translating
and publishing the world's academic works on philosophy and social
sciences; introducing the political science, economics, history and
geography of different countries; and compiling and publishing
linguistic works, dictionaries, other reference books, teaching
materials and popular readers in Chinese and foreign languages.

The Commercial Press has published 300 titles in Chinese under the
"World-Famous Academic Works" series since 1982. Meanwhile, it has
published works of Chinese scholars such as Cai Yuanpei, Liang Shuming
and Hu Shi.

It has churned out more than 200 dictionaries and reference books. "Ci
Yuan" (Etymology), for instance, is a four-volume dictionary of
archaic Chinese. It is a valuable tool for the study of Chinese
classical literature and historical documents. The "Xinhua Chinese
Lexicon" has sold nearly 200 million copies, reaching the top of
dictionary sales in the world.

The Commercial Press also has published sets of college textbooks of
English, Japanese, German, French and Italian. The most popular of
these are "English" compiled by Xu Guozhang and "Advanced English" by
Zhang Hanxi. Of its magazines, "The World of English" is probably the
most widely read. Launched in November 1981, the bimonthly magazine
aims to help improve readers' ability to understand, read and write
English.

Located on Beijing's Wangfujing Street, the Commercial Press now has
more exchanges in compilation and publication with major publishing
houses in Britain, the United States, France, Japan and Singapore.

The Commercial Press now publishes more than 400 titles each year,
realizing its goal of "publishing one book each day." The books are
carefully selected, beautifully translated and well-edited.

Recalling the past, General Manager Yang Deyan said the success of the
Commercial Press comes from a large group of excellent publishers and
editors, of whom Zhang Yuanji was an outstanding representative.
Famous writers and scholars such as Hu Yuzhi, Mao Dun, Zheng Zhenduo
and Ye Shengtao served on its staff before 1949. The late Chen Yun, a
top leader of the Communist Party, once worked at the Commercial Press
as an apprentice. Chen praised the publishing house as "one of the
most important cultural and

publishing establishments in China before 1949."

Amid the current economic reforms, Yang said, the Commercial Press
faces fierce competition in the domestic book market. Though a
prestigious publishing house, it has to re-adjust itself to keep pace
with the fast-changing situation.

"We must work hard, seize every opportunity and run our publishing
house even better in the next century," Yang said.
_________________________________________________________________

_Date: 05/09/97_
_Author: Yu Wentao_

***************************************************************************

Culture Notes (Page 9, Date: 05/09/97)

Characters

"PICTURE Within a Picture: An Illustrated Guide to the Origins of
Chinese Characters," written by Shi Zhengyu and published in English
by New World Press (Beijing), is considered an easy-reading book for
learning Chinese characters.

The book lists 526 Chinese characters, each accompanied by a short
article and illustration depicting the origin and evolution of the
character. The characters are divided into three parts according to
their meanings. The first part relates to human beings, the second is
about nature and the third concerns life in general.

The book ends with an index in which all the characters listed in the
book are arranged in the order of the Chinese phonetic alphabet.

Street romance

"ROMANCE in the Street" (Lang Man Jie Tou), produced by the Beijing
Film Studio, is considered an excellent film on contemporary youth.

In comic style, the film tells about a day's experience of a young
taxi driver -- his joys and sorrows and his emotional entanglement
with two women. With complicated urban life as the background, the
film reflects the confusion, illusion and frustration of contemporary
youth.

The film is directed by Guan Hu, a "sixth-generation" film director
whose representative film "The Hair Is Tangled" provoked controversy
among film critics.

The cast of the new film includes Xie Dong and Kong Lin.

Modern drama

"LIVE in the Right Time" (Sheng Feng Qi Shi), a stage play performed
by the Central Experimental Modern Drama Theatre, has attracted
Beijing's theatre-goers with its realist theme.

Written by Shi Ling and directed by Wang Zunxi, the play touches on a
sensitive question: How to re-organize millions of workers who have
lost their jobs in State-run factories. The play provides an answer
through its characters -- that is, to seek new jobs and challenge
current commercial competition.

The play is full of modern concepts and humour. The performing crew
boasts such excellent actors as Zhao Liang, Li Yeping, Li Jianyi, Liu
Peiqi and Jiang Wu.

'Soft' weapons

"SOFT Weapons: Nine-Section Whip and Rope Dart," written by Li Keqin
and Li Xingdong, has been published in English by Foreign Languages
Press in Beijing.

Soft weapons form one category of weapons used in Chinese martial
arts. They were considered hidden weapons in ancient times and were
ideal for self-protection. The nine-section whip and rope dart were
two common soft weapons. Apart from giving a brief account of the
origin, kinds, uses and development of soft weapons, the book is
mainly devoted to the basic knowledge, routines and practice methods
of the nine-section whip and rope dart. It is illustrated with more
than 200 pictures.

Ornamental plants

"THE Utilization of Ornamental Plants," written by Wu Dixin, has been
published by China Agriculture Press.

The book expounds the theory and practical technology on utilization
of ornamental plants, filling gaps in this subject in China. With
modern concepts, the book introduces the utilization of ornamental
plants in indoor and outdoor environments. With more than 80 colour
photos and over 60 illustrations, the book is of academic, practical
and artistic value. The author has been teaching this subject for many
years, summing up valuable experience and accumulating many reference
materials from home and abroad.

(CD News)
_________________________________________________________________

_Date: 05/09/97_
_Author: _

***************************************************************************

Camera is Li's best friend

VILLAGE photographer Li Tianbing is known for his stubbornness and
being of one mind. Once he decides to do something, he will devote his
whole heart to it.

For half a century, he has roamed from one village to another carrying
his old style British-made camera to take photos for farmers. Living
in a backward mountainous village where there is still no electricity,
Li develops film with natural light, a technique he learned from his
master 50 years ago.

Li's home is in Futian Village, Makeng Township of Hua'an County in
the mountainous southern Fujian Province. When Li was 12, he met a
photographer who stayed in his village for several months. Fascinated
by the mystical camera, Li followed the photographer wherever he went
and volunteered to carry loads for him. Moved by Little Li's
sternness, the man agreed to receive Li as his assistant. A few months
later when the photographer left, Li had mastered the technique of
taking pictures and developing film.

To buy a camera, Li stole the family's cow and sold it for 70 silver
dollars (money used in old China). With the money, he bought a
wooden-structured British-made camera. Li's mother got very mad with
him when she found out he sold the family's only cow. She kept
scolding him, but Li just turned a deaf ear to the reproaches. He went
out with his camera every day. A year later, Li bought his mother
another cow with the money he had earned.

Influenced by the father, Li's son learnt photography when he was very
young. Now the son has become a photojournalist in the local county
committee's reporting office and the county's only member of the China
Photographers Assn. Li's son owns a modern camera with a long focus
lens while Li still insists on using his old camera. "It's my old
friend," he said.

Story and photos by Jiao Bo
_________________________________________________________________

_Date: 05/09/97_
_Author: _

***************************************************************************

What's on (Page 10, Date: 05/09/97)

CONCERTS

Tianjin Band -- Tianjin Aodisi Symphony Orchestra is coming to Beijing
to host the 33rd Music Appreciation Course.

With Zhang Chunhe conducting, the musicians will play Beethoven's
"First Movement of Symphony No 5," Chopin's "Polonaise" and
Tchaikovsky's "Fourth Movement of Symphony No 4."

Time: 2 pm, May 9. Location: Beijing Concert Hall, 1 Beixinhuajie.
Tel: 6605-5812.

Symphonic Music -- The China National Symphony Orchestra is to hold a
symphonic concert.

Conducted by Zhang Guoyong, the musicians will play Bach's "Suites for
the 3rd Band," Beethoven's "Symphony No 5" and other pieces.

Time: 7:30 pm, May 9. Location: Beijing Concert Hall, 1 Beixinhuajie.
Tel: 6605-5812.

OPERA

Original Opera -- The Liyuan Theatre at Qianmen Hotel presents Peking
Opera in the original style. The theatre has revived the ambience of
old Beijing by setting up Ming-style tables so guests can sample
snacks during performances.

Performers are from the Beijing Peking Opera Theatre.

Time: 7:30 pm, nightly. Location: Qianmen Hotel, 175 Yong'anlu, Xuanwu
District. Tel: 6301-6688 ext 8986.

EXHIBITIONS

Modern Paintings -- The Wan Fung Art Gallery is holding a modern
Chinese painting show.

Over 30 young and middle-age artists from overseas and around the
country, most of them active in the art circle in the recent years,
will present 50 art works at the exhibition.

Time: 9 am-5pm, May 9-18. Location: Wan Fung Art Gallery, 136 Nanchizi
Street, Dongcheng District. Tel: 6523-3320.

Print Show -- The Hanmo Art Centre inside the Beijing Antiques Market
is displaying 20 prints by six accomplished young artists, all
graduates of the Central Academy of Fine Arts. They are quite
different in style, some abstract and some realistic, but the same in
their attitude towards life, nature and the world.

Time: 10 am-6 pm, May 9. Location: Inside the Beijing Antiques City,
Dongsanhuan Nanlu, Chaoyang District. Tel: 6774-1064.

Master Creations -- Lu Guangzhao, a well-known flower-and-bird ink
painter, will hold his one-man show on May 9-11 at the China National
Art Museum.

Lu, 83, is one of the four representative painters of the Qi school.
He graduated from the Chinese Painting Department of the Beijing Art
School in 1937 and was taught by master Qi Baishi. Li has maintained
the traditions of the Qi school of painting, while borrowing the best
from other schools, establishing his own style.

The current exhibition displays more than 70 of Lu's creations.

Time: 9 am-5 pm, May 9-11. Location: China National Art Museum, 1 Wusi
Dajie, Dongcheng District. Tel: 6403-4951.

Painting Institute -- The Chinese Traditional Painting Research
Institute will present over 100 art works created by teachers from the
institute in the past year at the exhibition hall of the institute,
starting on May 9.

The exhibition features figure paintings, landscape paintings, flower
and bird paintings and Chinese calligraphy.

Time: 9 am-5 pm, May 9-17. Location: Chinese Traditional Painting
Research Institute, 54 Xisanhuan Beilu, Xicheng District. Tel:
6841-1369.
_________________________________________________________________

_Date: 05/09/97_
_Author: _

***************************************************************************