China’s publishing industry has a long history. As early as 3,000 years ago, primitive books appeared in the slave society of the Yin and Shang Dynasties, and editing work began in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. Many Confucian classics were compiled and edited at that time. After the invention of engraving and printing in the Tang Dynasty, private private publishing industry engraving workshops appeared. The official engraving institutions of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, the Imperial College and the Xingwen Bureau, had full-time officials, editors and proofreaders, engraving workers, and printing workers, which were the prototypes of later presses and printing bureaus. In the Ming Dynasty, the national publishing agencies had engraving books in different categories (such as the Metropolitan Procuratorate, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Rites, and the Ministry of War and other state agencies were also responsible for engraving books); local publishing agencies have developed more than in the Song and Yuan dynasties, and each province has a chief secretary and an inspector to engrave books. , many prefectures and counties also publish books and local chronicles. In the early Qing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's method of central agencies in charge of publishing books was changed, and official engravings were centralized and unified in the Wuying Hall of the Imperial Household. The engraving workshop is a handicraft book engraving institution run by general booksellers. It appeared in the Tang Dynasty and became more prosperous in the Song Dynasty, becoming an important force in book publishing. During the Song Dynasty, there were bookstores in all major cities across the country, with Hangzhou and Jianyang being the most developed. There were more square carvings than official carvings in the Yuan Dynasty. During the Ming Dynasty, engraving workshops were spread all over the country, and the types of engraving books included medical books, classic books, novels, operas, etc. Square carvings became more prosperous in the Qing Dynasty. In addition to official engravings and official engravings, there is also private engraving, also called family engraving, which is a privately funded school publication. These people try their best to select excellent rare books, edit and reprint them carefully and carefully, generally of high quality, and many of them have become "rare books" handed down from generation to generation. After the Opium War, with the introduction of Western printing equipment, the Mohai Library run by foreign missionaries moved from Singapore to Shanghai in 1843. The Tongwen Library (1862) and Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau Translation Center (1868) founded by the Qing government began to compile books. A number of modern capitalist publishing enterprises such as the Commercial Press (1897), Wenming Book Company (1902), Zhonghua Book Company (1912), Yadong Library (1913), Taidong Library (1918), etc. were established successively and produced a large number of publications. books. After the May 4th Movement, China's publishing industry began to undergo major changes. Publishing institutions led by the Communist Party of China - People's Publishing House (1921.9), Shanghai Bookstore (1923.11), Changjiang Bookstore (1926.11), and Huaxing Bookstore (1929) were established successively. A large number of private publishing companies, such as Huaxia Bookstore, Guanghua Bookstore, Kaiming Bookstore, etc., together with the famous Commercial Press, Zhonghua Bookstore, and the Life Bookstore, Reading Publishing House, and Knowledge Bookstore led by the Communist Party, edited under difficult conditions. Publishing books. By 1949, there were more than 200 public and private book publishing houses across the country. In the early days of the Republic of China, Xinhua Bookstore had the triple mission of publishing, printing and distribution. In 1950, the second working conference of the National Xinhua Bookstore made the "Decision on the Specialization of the Division of Labor and the Adjustment of Public-Private Relations among State-owned Book and Periodical Publishing, Printing and Distribution Enterprises." From then on, publishing, printing, and distribution were managed separately. By the end of the same year, there were 211 publishing houses nationwide, including 6 at the central level, 21 at the local level, and 184 at the private level. By the end of 1956, after adjustments to joint ventures, the number was reduced to 101. Over the past 30 years, especially after 1978, China's publishing industry has developed greatly to meet the needs of socialist construction. By the end of 1987, there were 467 book publishing houses in the country. Among the book publishing houses, 24 also publish audio-visual publications, and there are 72 publishing houses specializing in audio-visual publications (see the People's Republic of China and the State Publishing Industry).