Xia Ruifang (1871-1914), whose characters are pure and square.Qingpu, Jiangsu (now Shanghai) people.He studied in Shanghai Missionary School when he was young, and later joined Qingxin Academy.He once worked as a typesetter in Wen Wei Po, Zi Lin Xi Bao, Jie Bao and other newspaper offices.In the 23rd year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1897), it raised funds to establish a commercial press in Jiangxi Road. When it was first established, it mainly engaged in printing commercial documents, so it was named Business.In the 27th year of Guangxu period, Zhang Yuanji was appointed to preside over the Commercial Press. In the 29th year of Guangxu period, an editorial office was set up and Zhang Yuanji was appointed as the director of the editorial office;The next year, when the new school was launched, textbooks were urgently needed, and the Commercial Press changed its main business to publishing school books.In the 31st year of Guangxu's reign, the Commercial Press was reorganized into a joint-stock company. Xia Ruifang was promoted as the general manager. He went to Japan to investigate printing technology and introduce advanced technology.In 1914, Xia Ruifang was assassinated.[1-2]
Xia Ruifang, a native of Nanshe, Shenxiang, Qingpu (now in Zhujiajiao Town, Qingpu District, Shanghai).Xia Ruifang was born on May 13, 1871, the 10th year of Tongzhi in the Qing Dynasty. Her mother worked as a maid in a foreign priest's home in Shanghai when she was a poor child. She seldom returned home once or twice a year.When Ruifang was 9 years old, her father sold the only land and house in his family, went to Shanghai to open a small shop in the Dong Family, and fostered her in his uncle's home.Little Ruifang moved to Shanghai with her mother when she was 11 years old.Seeing that little Ruifang was clever and brave, his mother's boss also liked him very much, so he sent him to the Qingxin School run by the church at that time.In Qingxin School, he and his Ningbo classmatesBauchene、Bao XianchangHe became good friends from primary school to junior high school, with excellent academic performance and learned English typesetting.[3]
In the 15th year of Guangxu's reign (1889), when Xia Ruifang was 18 years old, his father died and his family became more difficult. A prison of Qingxin School took good care of him and introduced him to work in the peer hospital run by the church.A year later, Xia Ruifang felt that she was doing chores in the hospital and didn't use what she learned, so she resigned and joined a foreign language newspaper run by the BritishZilinxi NewspaperI became a typesetter and learned excellent printing skills.Before long, Xia Ruifang's mother also died of illness.Alone in Shanghai, he later became the son in law of the Bao family. He formed a close relationship with his friends, the Bao brothers, and relied on each other.[3]
In the 23rd year of Guangxu's reign (1897), Xia Ruifang rented two houses with Bao Xianen, Bao Xianchang and his friend Gao Fengchi, and jointly opened a small printing house called Commercial Press. Later, the trade mark of the Commercial Press was CP with the word "Shang" added in the middle. Xia Ruifang was elected as the manager.At that time, the business of printing English textbooks was very good. They all came from church schools, were proficient in English, and could typeset and print. Their business developed rapidly.[3]
Xia Ruifang attaches great importance to the introduction of technology and the recruitment of talents with a large amount of money.In the 24th year of Guangxu's reign (1898), Xia Ruifang went to Japan to investigate the printing industry. When he returned home, the Qing government was carrying out a new policy and setting up schools. The first wave of learning foreign languages started in China.Xia Ruifang seized the opportunity to hire experts and scholars to compile and print textbooks for schools and other English reading books, such as "Chinese English Elementary" and "Chinese English Advanced", and set about compiling reference books, such as "Chinese English Dictionary", so as to increase the reputation and business of "business".In addition to the printing office, the Commercial Press has also set up a heavyweight compilation office. Cai Yuanpei and Zhang Yuanji were successively employed as the director of the compilation office. In addition to editing and publishing authoritative textbooks, the Commercial Press also published a variety of dictionaries, academic works and literary works, and reviewed and published the ancient book "Siku Quanshu Zhenben" at all costs.A large number of cultural celebrities, such as:Prolific translator of Western works into classical Chinese、Guo Moruo、better known as Mao Dun，an early advocate of vocational education、Chen Shutong、Zhu Kezhen、Ye ShengtaoThey all made contributions to the Commercial Press.[3]
In the 28th year of Guangxu's reign (1902), Xia Ruifang, in order to further expand his business, planned to set up a large publishing company with extensive funds, but couldn't find a partner at the moment.In the winter of that year, Japanese businessmen came to Shanghai with huge sums of money to seek development. Xia Ruifang, considering that China's printing technology still lags behind Japan's, could use Japanese capital to learn from their advanced experience, so he decided to absorb Japanese capital of 100000 yuan to improve printing technology, and formally established the Commercial Press Co., Ltd. as the general manager.[3]
Xia Ruifang is committed to updating equipment and improving technology, making printing and publishing industry flourish. He also has branches in Hong Kong, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and other places.According to Zhang Xichen's article "Talking about the Commercial Press", the initial starting capital of "Business" was only 4000 yuan, but after 15 to 16 years, it has increased to 2 million yuan.[3]
At the beginning of 1914, in the national anti Japanese wave, Xia Ruifang realized that he had become the "business" of China's largest printing and publishing enterprise. It was a pity that Japanese shares were still involved at this time, and the profits would inevitably overflow.Therefore, he went to Japan several times to discuss with Japanese businessmen, and finally reached an agreement to buy back all Japanese shares with 500000 yuan on January 6.On January 10, the Commercial Press published a notice on the Shanghai Times to withdraw all Japanese shares.At the end of the day, Xia Ruifang walked out of the gate of the issuing house and was about to get into a carriage when she was attacked by a murderer. She was shot twice in a row, seriously injured and fell to the ground, bleeding heavily. She was rushed to Renji Hospital and died at the age of 43.[3]
The death of Xia Ruifang was thought to be related to the withdrawal of Japanese shares at that time, but according to the memories of Hu Yuzhi and others, it was thought to be related to the then Shanghai GovernorChen QimeiIt is related to the failure to borrow military pay from business.Xia Ruifang was buried in the Shanghai Wanguo Cemetery. When she was buried, thousands of people were in charge of taxation.Cai YuanpeiHe once wrote a biography for him, praising: "You believe in Christianity, and you are very skillful. It is very easy to meet people. If you can spend your days and die, you will be assassinated. Tang called you ignorant of the way of heaven! However, although you are dead, the cause you created is in the ascendant. If you take advantage of the influence of education, you can go back and forth without wasting your time. Although it is said that you will never die, you can never die."[3]
Commemoration for future generations
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Through the efforts of Xia Ruifang Research Association, District Bureau of Culture, Radio, Film and Television, Zhujiajiao Town Government, etc., Shanghai Qingpu District Xia Ruifang Research Association was established in November 2015.[4]
On February 17, 2017, on the occasion of the 120th anniversary of the establishment of the Commercial Press and the 103rd anniversary of the death of Xia Ruifang, the founder of the Commercial Press, the opening ceremony of Xia Ruifang's former residence was held in Nanshe Village, Zhangxiang, Zhujiajiao Town, Qingpu District.More than 70 people from Qingpu District Xia Ruifang Research Association, Xia Ruifang's descendants and people from all walks of life participated in the activity.At the opening ceremony, Mr. Shi Jiliang, Xia Ruifang's grandson, unveiled Xia Ruifang's former residence.[4]
