The Former Site of the Commercial Press Main Factory

The Former Site of the Commercial Press Main Factory

The Former Site of the Commercial Press Main Factory is a cultural heritage site protected by Jing’an District.

The Former Site of the Commercial Press Main Factory is located at No. 23, Lane 209, Baoyuan Road. In the 23rd year of the Guangxu reign of the Qing Dynasty (1897), Xia Ruifang, Bao Xian’en, Bao Xianchang, Gao Fengchi, and others founded the Commercial Press at No. 3, Dechang Lane, Jiangxi Road. In June of the 24th year of the Guangxu reign (1898), it moved to Shunqing Lane, Beijing Road. In the 28th year of the Guangxu reign (1902), it relocated to a newly built factory at the intersection of Fujian Road and Haining Road. In the 33rd year of the Guangxu reign (1907), the main factory (headquarters) moved again to No. 45 Baoshan Road (now within Lane 499, Baoshan Road). The main factory covered an area of approximately 53,000 square meters. By 1921, it had expanded to include four printing plants, as well as over twenty buildings such as the General Compilation Office, the General Manager’s Office, the General Affairs Department, the Infirmary, the Ironworking Department, the Woodworking Department, the Ink Production Department, the Film Department, the Paper Storage Warehouse, the Plate Storage Room, the Instrument Room, the Telegraph Office, the Generator Room, and the Shanggong Primary School. The Commercial Press was the longest-standing and largest cultural publishing institution in modern Chinese history, often regarded as the foremost in the Far East, and made significant contributions to China’s New Culture Movement. The press gathered a large number of renowned scholars and experts in China, integrating compilation, publishing, printing, distribution, and management. It published and reprinted a vast number of textbooks, dictionaries, Chinese and foreign classics, rare ancient texts, periodicals, and magazines. It also printed various negotiable instruments such as money orders, tax stamps, stocks, banknotes, and postage stamps. Additionally, it operated its own school and established the internationally renowned Oriental Library and China’s earliest film production studio. After enduring two battles of the Shanghai Campaign, the Commercial Press Main Factory was almost completely destroyed, leaving only the Plate Storage Room standing on its original site. The Plate Storage Room faces east and covers an area of about 620 square meters. It is a pseudo-four-story reinforced concrete structure with a hipped red tile roof.

The Former Site of the Commercial Press Main Factory is a cultural heritage site protected by Jing’an District.