If Cai Yuanpei is the representative of the "Peking University style" and Zhang Yuanji is the representative of the "Commercial Press style", then Lu Feikui is the representative of the "Zhonghua Book Company style".
Lu Feikui (1886-1941), whose name is Bohong, is from Tongxiang. His great-grandfather Lu Feiqi edited for the Hanlin Academy, and successively served as the chief official and vice president of the "Siku Quanshu".
Since he was a teenager, Lu Feikui has studied books on scripture and history, read new books and newspapers, and taught himself English and Japanese. In the twenty-ninth year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1903), Lu Feikui went to Wuchang, Hubei. In the following year, he opened the New School Bookstore with his classmates and served as the manager, selling revolutionary books such as "Alarm Bell" and "Fierce Return". In the thirty-first year of Guangxu (1905), he joined the revolutionary organization Rizhi Society and participated in the revolution. In the same year, he served as the chief writer of "Chu Bao", was wanted for exposing the secret loan agreement of the Guangdong-Hanzhou Railway, fled to Shanghai, and was hired as the manager of the Shanghai branch (bookstore) of Changming Company, and later served as the editor of Wenming Bookstore.
In the autumn of the 34th year of Guangxu (1908), Lu Feikui was appreciated by Gao Mengdan and was recommended to join the Commercial Press, where he first served as the editor of the Ministry of Chinese Literature, and later as the director of the Publishing Department and the Ministry of Communications, and concurrently served as the editor-in-chief of the magazine "Education".
After the Xinhai Revolution in the third year of Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty (1911), Lu Feikui was keenly aware that education was bound to usher in great changes, and the current textbooks for the purpose of maintaining feudal monarchism should also be changed, and actively suggested to Zhang Yuanji. Zhang Yuanji has experienced political ups and downs and is hesitant about this. In contrast, Lu Feikui read progressive books, was baptized by the revolution, and looked forward to the success of the revolution. So he broke away from the Commercial Press and established the Zhonghua Book Company in Shanghai on New Year's Day in 1912. Soon after the establishment of the Provisional School of Nanjing, a decree was promulgated, stipulating that all kinds of textbooks must conform to the purpose of the republican form of government, and all textbooks issued by the Qing Dynasty School were banned. Lu Feikui had already secretly edited a set of textbooks with the contents of the current situation with some friends. Therefore, as soon as it was established, Chung Hwa Book Company took the lead and launched the Chinese version of "Textbook". For a time, the book almost monopolized the primary and secondary school textbook market, "ordered during the day, sold out before it was late, there was no overnight book on the shelf, and the provinces sent letters and telegrams to urge, but did not respond." ”
Lu Feikui's entry into the book industry as a cloth cloth was entirely based on his revolutionary practice in his early years and his deep feeling for the needs of the people, and his forward-looking prediction of the tide of the times and political trends played a crucial role in the emergence of Zhonghua Book Company.
From 1913 to 1914, Zhonghua Book Company set up branches in Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Hankou, Nanjing, Fuzhou, Chengdu, Kunming and other places, and grew stronger and stronger. In 1915, Lu Feikui reorganized Zhonghua Book Company as a share, and invited Tang Shaoyi and Liang Qichao to serve as directors, and the book company became the second largest Chinese bookstore in China. Due to the rapid expansion and fierce competition in the market, in 1917, Chung Hwa Book Company was on the verge of bankruptcy, but he still insisted on publishing books that were useful to the world and the country, and lived and died with the book company. "We want the country to progress, and we can't help but want education to progress," he said. We want education to progress, and we can't help but hope that the book industry will progress. ”
Based on this understanding, he decided to reprint the Great Chinese Dictionary and continue to compile the Cihai. The Great Chinese Dictionary is the most important dictionary in Chinese dictionaries in the mid-20th century. The compilation of Cihai began in 1916, under the auspices of Lu Feikui, and after 20 years of unremitting efforts by more than 100 people, it was published in 1936 and sold more than one million copies by 1949. In addition, Lu Feikui also took the collation and publication of Chinese classics as his own responsibility, and spared no effort to organize and publish a large number of classical series such as "Four Preparations" and "Collection of Ancient and Modern Books". Since then, the collation and publication of classical literature books has become a well-known brand of Chung Hwa Book Company, and has continued to this day.
While developing the bookstore, Lu Feikui also cares about national affairs and supports the development of education. In 1917, he and Cai Yuanpei, Huang Yanpei and others initiated the establishment of the China Vocational Education Society. In 1921, the Chinese Language Specialized School was established to produce Chinese gramophone films. In 1922, Lu Feikui published the "Opinions on Organizing Chinese Characters", suggesting the adoption and promotion of simplified Chinese characters. After the August 13 Incident, Lu Feikui asked his wife to buy a lot of cloth and cotton, and organized women to rush to make cotton clothes and pants to support the front line. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, although Lu Feikui was in Hong Kong, he still worked hard to compile and print primary and secondary school textbooks to support education.
On July 9, 1941, Lu Feikui died of a cerebral hemorrhage in Hong Kong. Before his death, Lu Feikui was still devoted to Zhonghua Book Company, and he spent his life here for 30 years.
Author: Tongxiang Historical Research Office.