"Books appear all at once, brand new and a little damp, like the glistening fruit under a chestnut tree in autumn."
The poet Milosz once wrote such a poem, praising the moment of meeting with books.
When the New Year's bell rings in 2023, the joy and regret of the past year have become memories, but don't forget those days accompanied by books, which have carved firm coordinates one by one in the passing time, This is the intersection of times and people, and it is also a proof that time stops.
Books are to life, just like the chants in poetry, "but books will stand on the shelves, and they will be born fortunately, from people, and from the lofty and bright."
In anticipation, meet a good book
Many books have gone through a long time alone before meeting people—they may be manuscripts sleeping in a certain drawer, or dusty historical materials in a certain archive, relying on a certain writer for dozens of years. The belief that has been going on for years, or the unique insight of a certain researcher, finally, one day, it will be transformed into a book and meet thousands of readers.
In 2022, many hard-won good books have crossed thousands of rivers and mountains before reaching readers.
"Loulan Archaeological Survey and Excavation Report" is an archaeological report 35 years late. The author is the late Mr. Hou Can, a famous expert on the history of the Western Regions.
In 2019, Hou Can's wife found a heavy kraft paper bag at home, with "Loulan Archaeological Survey and Excavation Report" written on it, and the time was fixed in March 1987.
At that time, this archaeological report could not be published due to "lack of paper" and other reasons, and was once forgotten. It was not able to meet the public until 2022.
Zhu Yuqi, a professor of the History Department of Peking University, said in an interview with the media that the late arrival of the Loulan archaeological report reflects the backwardness of China's academic and cultural undertakings at that time.
Since the reform and opening up, the strong sense of professionalism of scholars has been stimulated, but it is the norm to have no books to publish.
This situation has completely changed.
As time goes by, archeology, cultural and museum books have become a hot spot in the book market in recent years.
In 2022, there will be no less than ten new books on the theme of Dunhuang alone.
Zhonghua Book Company launched "Forty Days of Watching in Dunhuang" and "History of Dunhuang Landscape Painting", and Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House published "Three Books on Dunhuang", "Dunhuang, Dunhuang-Chang Shuhong's Autobiography" and "The Glory of Dunhuang".
"Dunhuang Ethnic History" by Social Sciences Publishing House and "Dunhuang as Painted" by CITIC Publishing Group tell the past and present life of Dunhuang with pictures and texts.
In the publishing market, these books have swept away the desolation of unpopular and unpopular studies, and are quite academically brilliant.
"Zhao Yuanren's Archives" has been dormant in overseas archives for decades. In 2022, the Commercial Press published 46 volumes of "Zhao Yuanren's Diary" and "The Fun Master--Academic Chapter of Zhao Yuanren's Photo Notes", which were well received.
It is understood that there are as many as 120,000 "Zhao Yuanren Archives", which are important historical materials in the history of Chinese and Western academic history in the 20th century. Their rich content and complete preservation are extremely rare in similar archives.
Zhou Xinping, director of the East Asian Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and one of the editors-in-chief of "Zhao Yuanren Archives", introduced that after Zhao Yuanren's death in 1982, Zhao Yuanren's family donated all his files to the Bancroft Special Collection at the University of California, Berkeley. Museum, but the library does not have archives management and cataloging personnel who understand Chinese, so these precious historical materials have been kept in a sealed state. "The publication of "Diary of Zhao Yuanren" is only the first step. In the next few years, we will try our best to put other The archives of Zhao Yuanren on various topics have been published one after another.”
At the end of 2022, the National Museum of China exhibited the "Prosperous Revival——"A Series of Chinese Paintings of Past Dynasties" Achievement Exhibition", announcing that the 17-year cultural project of "A Series of Chinese Paintings of Past Dynasties" will be completed soon. The project has published " The Complete Works of Pre-Qin, Han and Tang Paintings, the Complete Works of Song Paintings, the Complete Works of Yuan Paintings, the Complete Works of Ming Paintings, and the Complete Works of Qing Paintings have a total of 60 volumes and 226 volumes, including 12,405 pieces (sets) of Chinese painting collections from 263 cultural and museum institutions at home and abroad, covering Most of the painting treasures handed down from generation to generation as national treasures are the most complete collection of fine works among similar publications and the largest publication scale of Chinese painting image documents.
There are changes of the times in the "big history", and the "small history" is also a sentimental "section".
As the scholar Hong Zicheng said in the preface to the book "Ordinary People's Home": ""Ordinary People's Home" tells about the material and spiritual lifestyles of certain ordinary people in the context of the great era. Expectations, longings, their successes and failures, their joys, sorrows and joys.” In fact, this passage can also be used as a commentary for some high-quality new books in 2022.
"Memoirs of Tao An" is also such a book, which is the memoir of Tao Kangde, editor of the "Analects of Confucius" magazine in the 1930s. It was written in the early 1980s and was published after 40 years.
These memories lead readers to the backstage of the literary world. Some people see the makeup of history removed, and some people see the ups and downs of ordinary people's lives.
At the end of the year and the end of the year, there are often various annual book inventories, summarizing a year's reading life.
New books are fleeting, and classics are permanent.
In fact, when reading becomes a way of life, everyone will have their own "best book list of the year" in their eyes and hearts.
In exploration, move forward together with the book industry
Printing civilization has been an important pointer since it entered the tide of human history, reflecting the colorful scenes of different eras.
The book industry is never short of topics, and it is always looking for the driving force in the noisy crowd.
Paper book or e-book?
This is a question, a question that is discussed over and over again.
At the beginning of 2022, some media once again discussed the value and dilemma of paper books under the title "Who Needs Paper Books in the Internet Age".
Coincidentally, in June 2022, Amazon Kindle announced that it will officially withdraw from China in 2023 and stop the operation of its e-bookstore in China.
These news have triggered many voices of "supporting" paper books: "Print books will not die" and "Print books have no shortage of readers"... It seems to be a refutation of the bad-mouthing of print media for many years.
These discussions also let people see that we can get out of the "binary" thinking of either/or. Maybe next time, when people talk about paper books and e-books, the proposition will change-how to make good use of media, return to Deep reading.
In 2022, "return to reading" will still be the "traffic password" in the live broadcast room.
Over the past three years, online activities and live broadcasts have been important measures for the publishing industry to deal with the impact of the epidemic.
However, in the process of transformation and exploration, pirated and low-quality books are flooding various online live broadcast rooms, hindering the healthy development of the publishing industry.
In the middle of the year, New Oriental's live broadcast room "Oriental Selection" suddenly became popular. It did not advocate "understanding history with a book" or "understanding human nature in three minutes", nor did it play the low-priced gimmick of "one yuan per book".
In the live broadcast room, the anchor Dong Yuhui sincerely shared his reading experience, and classic books such as "The Biography of Su Dongpo" and "The Right Bank of the Ergun River" sold tens of thousands of copies in an instant.
Why is Dong Yuhui popular in the book industry?
A staff member of New Oriental told the reporter, “The team has read every book sold in the studio.”
It turns out that under the trend of "traffic is king" and "channel is king", the content has never lost its precious value.
And this is exactly the "change" and "constant" of the book industry.
Children's books are also a hot topic in 2022.
In May, some netizens revealed that there were problems with some children's book illustrations, which subsequently aroused widespread concern in the society.
Looking at the children's book market, after entering the 21st century, children's book publishing has always been the "leading force" of Chinese publishing, creating a miracle of double-digit annual growth for more than 20 consecutive years.
By 2016, my country has become the world's largest children's book market.
However, the booming children's book market has buried many quality concerns.
For example, as early as the beginning of 2020, some netizens pointed out that the "Animal Encyclopedia" of a certain publishing house in Wuhan improperly described wild animals: "Civet cats are full of treasures, and their meat is edible. Zhen'." Professor Tan Xudong of Shanghai University believes that an important reason for the frequent quality problems of children's books is the over-commercialization of children's literature and children's book promotion, but the overall children's book market in my country is still improving.
The rapid development of the children's book market for more than 20 years has accumulated many issues that need to be discussed in depth. The discussion on the quality of children's books has brought these issues to the public: what kind of children's literature do we need, how to relieve parents' reading anxiety, children's book graded reading How to carry out, how to balance social and economic benefits in children's book publishing... In fact, affirming achievements is not contrary to facing problems directly.
In the future, more rational and professional discussions are still needed in the field of children's books.
2022 is an important year for the development of ancient books in our country. In April, the Central Office and the State Office issued the "Opinions on Promoting the Work of Ancient Books in the New Era" to fully deploy the work on ancient books; in September, the National Ancient Books Work Conference was held. To do a good job in the quality of ancient books in the new era put forward clear requirements and make important arrangements; in October, the National Ancient Books Compilation and Publishing Planning Leading Group issued and implemented the "2021-2035 National Ancient Books Work Plan" (hereinafter referred to as the "Plan"), which is the ancient books group in 1958 The eighth medium and long-term plan formulated and implemented since its establishment.
A series of policies and plans have drawn up a grand blueprint for the national ancient book work in the next 15 years, clarified key directions and key tasks, arranged and deployed a number of major projects and key projects, including the systematic protection, sorting and publishing project of "Yongle Canon", The systematic protection, sorting and publishing project of Dunhuang literature, the Chinese version handing down project (ancient book part), the national ancient book digitization project, etc.
In 2022, many ancient book workers lamented: "Our country's ancient book industry has ushered in new opportunities for development."
In history, listen to the accent of civilization
100 years ago, there were many new-style books, shops and newspapers in the vicinity of Sima Road, Qipan Street, Shanghai. This was the famous "Cultural Street".
One hundred years later, people frequently look back at this important coordinate a hundred years ago, listen to the accent of civilization, and draw strength from history.
In 2022, many famous publishing institutions ushered in the "every five and ten" anniversaries: the 125th anniversary of the Commercial Press, the 110th anniversary of Zhonghua Bookstore, the 90th anniversary of Life·Reading·New Knowledge Joint Publishing House, and the 70th anniversary of Foreign Languages Publishing House.
Looking back at the history of the event, those important publishing histories are not only the "family history" of each publishing house, but also an important chapter in the modernization process of our country——
In February 1897, the Commercial Press was established.
As the oldest publishing institution in China's modern publishing industry, it is also called "the twin stars of modern Chinese culture" together with Peking University;
In January 1912, Lu Feikui founded Zhonghua Book Company in Shanghai, with the aim of "opening up the wisdom of the people" as the publishing purpose.
Today, "Zhonghua Books" has become a "synonym" for the rare and definitive editions of traditional cultural books;
In July 1932, Zou Taofen, Hu Yuzhi, Xu Boxin and others founded Life Bookstore amidst the flames of war, published progressive books and magazines, and promoted advanced ideology and culture.
In the past 90 years, the "Sanlian spirit" of "serving readers wholeheartedly" has been passed down from generation to generation;
In 1952, Foreign Languages Publishing House was established.
In the past 70 years, we have always kept in mind the mission and responsibility of "telling Chinese stories well and spreading Chinese voices well" to the world, and built a highland for foreign publishing with more than 30,000 book varieties and a circulation of nearly 500 million copies.
For more than a hundred years, entrepreneurs have never been far away.
Zhang Yuanji, who "wishes for Changming education in his life, so he works hard in the book forest", Lu Feikui, who aims at "the progress of the country, education, and book industry", and Zou Taofen, who has always "served the readers wholeheartedly"... Their original mission lasts forever Fresh.
"Looking back at the history of modern publishing, we can see that only when the humanistic spirit of intellectuals is carried out can the publishing industry achieve greater development." Chen Sihe, a professor at Fudan University, once wrote in "On Modern Publishing and the Humanistic Spirit of Intellectuals" Put forward the proposition that "modern publishing has participated in the creation of modern culture", and pointed out that "if there were no publishing houses such as Enlightenment, Beixin, Liangyou, Cultural Life, and Haiyan that reflected the personality of intellectuals, then China in the 1930s and 1940s The history of modern literature will be rewritten. If there are no publishing houses such as Commerce, Zhonghua, and Yadong, the history of modern culture will also be rewritten.”
Modern publishing has turned an important page in history, and classic books are like a trickle flowing into the sea, surging the tide of the times.
The story behind the publication is also an important piece of cultural history.
At the beginning of 2022, Xu Jun, the former executive director of Zhonghua Book Company, published a new book "Cuiwei But Gu Ji-Zhonghua Book Company and Modern Academic Culture", which attracted the attention of many colleagues in the publishing and cultural circles.
The book records in detail the publishing stories of many Chinese classic books, and focuses on reviewing the process of collation, revision and publication of the "Twenty-Four Histories". It is known as "an important collection of contemporary academic and cultural historical materials".
During the Shanghai Book Fair in November, "Life Bookstore Meeting Minutes (1933-1945)" (typeprint) was officially released, and the relatively complete meeting records kept by Life Bookstore were published in typesetting form for the first time.
These 12-year-long historical materials have recorded the development process of Life Bookstore in detail, and fully demonstrated the historical story of "a cultural fortress in the countercurrent".
The day is new, and the hope is like the dawn.
Today's records will eventually become tomorrow's history.
And tomorrow is always a new starting point!
(Chen Xue, reporter from Guangming Daily)