Book Industry in a Transitional Society: From Late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China

Marked by the “Opium War” in 1840, Chinese society entered a period of drastic change. On the one hand, after the prosperity of Emperor Kangxi, Yongzheng and Qianlong’s reign, the Chinese feudal society entered a rapid recession from Emperor Jiaqing and Daoguang’s reign. Consequently, not only did China’s national power deteriorate, but also the traditional culture and academia changed a lot; traditional learning was no longer as prosperous as it used to be; the so-called scene “Ten thousand horses lost their voice at once” described by Gong Zizhen in his Jihai Zashi was a true portrayal of the society. On the other hand, European and American countries, which were undergoing the industrial revolution, greatly improved their labor productivity and hence they urgently needed to expand oversea markets and resources; as a result, they opened the door to China through the “Opium War”.