The Commercial Press was the largest publishing and printing company in China at that time, which was founded by Xia Ruifang, Bao and others in Shanghai from 65438 to 0897 (the 23rd year of Guangxu). It is famous for publishing various textbooks, science series, oriental magazines and educational magazines, and has made great contributions to the development of modern science and education in China. In the meantime, the Compilation Department of the Commercial Press compiled and reviewed a large number of books and periodicals.
During his tenure in the Compiling Institute of the Commercial Press, Zheng studied hard and dabbled in a wide range, translated and compiled a variety of natural science works, and actively spread modern scientific knowledge to China, involving mathematics, physics, chemistry, geography, zoology, botany, meteorology and other disciplines. These books played an important role in the dissemination and popularization of natural science knowledge in China in the 1920s and 1930s. In particular, Zheng wrote a scientific play called love light, which introduced Einstein's theory of relativity in a popular and interesting way. There are four roles in the play: one is a doctor of science, the other is a monster, that is, the transliteration of English time, the other is a female, that is, the transliteration of Space, and the last is the god of light. Describe the doctor of science who once understood time and space as absolutely irrelevant. After the light god uncovered the clothes of Taimo and Shi Peiru, the audience suddenly realized that time and space were relative. This attempt to publicize and popularize science in the form of drama is quite ingenious.
The commercial compilation institute mainly edited primary school textbooks in the early days. After taking office, Zheng became an editor focusing on middle school textbooks. In order to meet the teaching needs of middle schools at that time, he not only organized the compilation of physics and chemistry textbooks, but also personally compiled a series of middle school chemistry textbooks, especially the new era high school textbook Chemistry published in 1929, which was the first high school chemistry textbook compiled by China chemists. The book is concise, moderate in depth and step by step, and is very popular among middle school teachers and students. After its publication, the book became popular all over the country and was reprinted several times in succession, becoming one of the chemistry textbooks widely used in senior high schools in China in the 1930s and 1940s.
Zheng also edited a series of books, such as Learning Art, Encyclopedia and Juvenile Natural Science. These series are rich in content and their depth depends on the level of readers, so they are very popular. His books, such as Man, Nature and Biology, Fire and Outbreak, Chemistry and Us, are simple and interesting, scientific, knowledgeable and interesting, which is convenient for readers to understand and experience. The juvenile natural science series *** 12, edited by Zheng, covers almost all fields of modern natural science. It is not only rich in content and novel in genre, but also fluent in writing and vivid in narration. It was a set of science and technology books in teen pop at that time.
Contribute to the unification of chemical terms.
Since modern chemistry was introduced to China in the 9th century, the Chinese translation of chemical terms has been an important and complicated issue. Xu Shou, a pioneer of modern chemistry in China, and Yu Tongkui, Yu Heqin and Du Yaquan, predecessors in the chemical field, have done some work on transliteration of chemical terms and put forward some draft names, but they are not systematic enough, and some translated names are not mature enough to be widely implemented.
Zheng began to pay attention to the naming of chemical terms while studying in Japan, and made a systematic study of it after returning home. He collected many representative compounds with fixed structures and drew up more than 100 rules, which were mainly based on China's original characters or adopted the characteristics of China characters to create new characters. In his monograph "Nomenclature Draft of Inorganic Chemistry", besides inheriting some nomenclature of Xu Shou, it has been developed. According to the physical state of elements, he added the prefix "Qi" to gaseous elements, the radical "Tan" to liquid elements, "Stone" to nonmetallic elements and "Cheng" to metallic elements to show the difference. In his Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry, he abandoned the simple transliteration method and adopted the principle of self-innovation of words in view of the complexity and long transliteration of organic chemistry terms. By selecting the radicals of new words, such as "fu", "fire", "you" and "about", this method can spell out chemical terms used by thousands of organic compounds and translate complex foreign organic chemical terms into unified Chinese terms. This is a great creation of Zheng. Li Qiaoping's Organic Chemical Engineering, written by 1926, is the first book translated by this new method in China.
1In June, 932, the Nanjing National Government established the Compilation Hall, and the Compilation Hall established the Translation Review Committee, with Zheng as the chairman and responsible for drafting the translated manuscript.
On the basis of many years' research on chemical translation, Zheng wrote the Principles of Chemical Naming (Draft). 1932 was discussed and revised at the inaugural meeting in chinese chemical society in August, and was promulgated and implemented by the Ministry of Education in the same year 10. The draft was revised once in 1937. After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), the Chemical Terminology Review Group of chinese chemical society revised the Principles of Chemical Naming, submitted it to the Culture and Education Commission for approval, and renamed it Principles of Naming Chemical Substances, which was promulgated and implemented on 195 1. Mr. Zheng has made great contributions to the perfection and systematization of chemical terms in China and to teaching and scientific research.
Contribute to the collection of ancient books in China.
Selecting and photocopying ancient rare books in China is one of the important businesses of the Commercial Press. Some precious ancient books have long been lost in China, but they are collected in Japan.
1928 10 10 In October, the fifth academic investigation delegation of Chinese Academy of Art went to Japan to attend the fourth plenary session of the Japanese Academic Society. The famous publisher and general manager of the Commercial Press, in the name of honorary members of the Society, and Zheng, a member of the Oriental Cultural Affairs Committee, in the name of China, also visited rare and rare ancient books scattered in China.
They went to the famous public and private libraries in Tokyo and read a lot of China ancient books. At that time, China's ambassador to Japan contacted the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Zheng entered the Royal Library of Japan to consult the Chinese books in its collection.
Focus on classics, history, philosophers and collections, while Zheng focuses on ancient literature and novels. After staying in China for more than three months, I selected and photographed 46 kinds of precious ancient books of Song, Yuan and Ming Dynasties, such as Annotations to the Analects of Confucius, Collected Works of Pingzhai, Quanpinghua, Changzi, Ancient and Modern Novels, and annotation of shadow books. They brought the negatives of their books back to Shanghai, which were revised and enlarged by the photography department of the Commercial Press, and published by the China Academy of Art as "Printed Ancient Books Series". The library also selected and photocopied some ancient books in China and printed them in complete sets, which made an important contribution to the preservation and inheritance of ancient books in China.
During his visit to China, Zheng He not only photocopied thousands of lost ancient books in, but also obtained the most valuable books in the history of China's science and technology, namely, The Book of Changes and the Wu Kai in Tiangong, which made Zheng overjoyed and regarded it as a treasure, thus arousing his interest in studying the chemical history of China. He read a lot of China ancient books and collected 17 different versions of Yijing, and explained and expounded Wei Boyang, Ge Hong and other ancient China alchemists and the relationship between alchemy and chemistry from the perspective of modern chemistry. It took him more than three years to write a monograph on the chemical history of China. Regrettably, the manuscripts, proofs and transcripts of the printing house and Zheng's residence compiled by the Commercial Press were all burned by Japanese artillery in the 1932 "January 28th Incident". This is a great pity for Zheng Yisheng and a great loss in China's chemical history.
Enthusiastic about academic group work
Zheng Yisheng has participated in many academic groups, among which the Chinese Academy of Art and chinese chemical society have the closest relationship with him and the greatest contribution.
The Art Society of China is an academic group established in Tokyo by Japanese students studying in China on 19 16. Its purpose is to "study the truth, prosper art, exchange knowledge and carry forward culture". Formerly known as the Academy, China Academy of Art was founded by Zheng, Guo Moruo as an academician and Cai Yuanpei, Fan Yuanlian and Liang Qichao as honorary members. 19 17, Yi Xue magazine was founded, published research results, and introduced the science and culture of the East and the West.
Zheng served as the president and editorial board of China Academy of Art for many years, and made great contributions to social affairs and publishing. 19 18, social affairs stopped because most members opposed the conclusion of a Sino-Japanese military agreement between Beiyang Warlord Duan and Japanese Warlords. 1920, friends in Beijing and Shanghai elected Zheng as interim director-general to organize the restoration of social affairs. He immediately negotiated with the Commercial Press to change Yi Xue magazine into a monthly magazine, which was edited and submitted by Yi Xue Society and printed and distributed by the Commercial Press. Colleagues of the Society elected Chen Chengze and Zheng as editorial directors (Chen is in charge of social science and Zheng is in charge of natural science), so the second volume of the magazine,No. 1, continued to be published in April 1920.
Yi Xue magazine is rich in content and active in layout, including arts, science, philosophy and politics. There are not only scientific and artistic papers, but also poems, novels, paintings and miscellaneous talks. , widely circulated. Zheng also personally wrote many articles of different disciplines and types for the journal, such as System of Science, Criticism of Recent Views on Nature, New Requirements of Academia, Raw Materials, Electricity, Periodic Law Theory, Kant's Theory of Celestial Bodies, etc. This shows Zheng's diligence and profound knowledge.
In addition to editing publications, the agency also published collections, series, series, literature series, ancient books series, etc., all of which depend on Zheng's effective organization and leadership. Because of his remarkable achievements in promoting the conference, the Chen Bing Institution was renamed the Yi Xue Institution of China on 1923. When re-elected, he was re-elected as Director General Zheng with the highest vote.
Chinese chemical society, founded in 1932, is one of the earliest and most influential natural science societies in China. Zheng is one of the founders of the association. He used to be the director of the first to fifth sessions of the Association (1932- 1937), and was the general manager and member of the Terminology Committee when chinese chemical society was founded. He also founded chinese chemical society Fuzhou Branch and served as its president for many years.
During his early work in Shanghai, Zheng was the organizer of Shanghai Institute of Natural Science and a member of the University Series Committee, which played an important role in supporting scientific research and promoting teaching in universities. For example, with Zheng's support and promotion, Ding's university series General Examination of Chemical History was published and reprinted in the Commercial Press.
He made a fundamental work for the development of Fujian education.
With the desire to save the country through science and education, Zheng has always loved science and education. In the 1920s, Zheng did a lot of work to establish Xiamen University. He participated in four national provincial education federations held in Shanghai, Taiyuan, Nanjing and Guangzhou. From 65438 to 0928, Zheng, Zhu Kezhen and Bingzhi participated in the first national education conference held by Nanjing National Government College as natural science expert committees.
At the end of 1932, Zheng returned to his hometown to serve as the director of the Education Department of Fujian Province, which lasted 1 1 year.
Before Zheng took office, there was often a phenomenon of salary arrears among the teaching staff in Fujian. Many schools had different opinions and the teaching level was not high. After he took office, he reorganized the school and made a plan to develop Fujian education, mainly taking the following measures:
1. Try to repay the unpaid salary.
It is stipulated to pay wages on time every month, so that school staff can work with peace of mind.
2. Promote national languages
It is stipulated that teachers should not teach students in local dialects.
3. Implement the teacher appointment system.
It is stipulated that the qualifications and conditions of teachers in various schools shall be selected by all localities and reported to the education department for approval before the appointment letter can be issued.
4. Offering remedial classes and training courses for teachers.
Hold teachers' cram schools and training courses to improve teachers' level and teaching quality.
5. Invite foreign experts and scholars to give lectures in Fujian.
Invite foreign experts and scholars to give lectures in Fujian, strengthen academic exchanges and improve local teaching level.
6. Hold the senior high school entrance examination.
Improve the level of high school students, so as to increase the proportion of high school graduates admitted to first-class universities in China.
7. Establishment of Fujian Science Museum (1933)
There are instruments and equipment in the museum, and there are special personnel to guide them. On the one hand, it is for middle school students to do scientific experiments; On the other hand, it provides scientific research for some researchers. This has played a very good role in promoting teaching, scientific research and training talents.
8. Establish scholarships for poor students.
So that excellent students from poor families can get opportunities for further study.
9. Adhere to the class during the Anti-Japanese War.
During the Anti-Japanese War, some coastal schools were moved to mountainous areas and insisted on attending classes. At the same time, in order to eliminate illiteracy among the masses, public education classes were set up.
10. Training specialized personnel
Strengthen the construction of teaching staff in sports, music, nursing and other institutions of higher learning and agricultural and medical colleges, and train more specialized talents.
Through the above measures, Fujian's educational outlook has been greatly improved, the teaching quality has been improved day by day, and it has gradually become one of the advanced ranks in the country together with Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, which is inseparable from Zheng's basic work in that year.