Jindai qiye de shangdao, shangshu yu shangfa: Tōkyō Kinkōdō yu Shanghai Shangwu yinshuguan zashi 近代企業的商道、商術與商法：東京金港堂與上海商務印書館雜識 [Morality, Rationality, and Legality of Modern Cooperation: Tōkyō Kinkōdō and Shanghai Commercial Press (1875-1930)]. By 蘇基朗, 蘇壽富美 [Billy Kee-long So and Sufumi So]. Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 2024. Pp 460. US$28 paperback.
Reviewed by Ka Chai Tam (HK Baptist University)
The book under review is a collective effort that brings together outputs of different research interests over the past two decades on the history of the book, commercial history, and legal history of modern East Asia. This research has been conducted by a prominent research team led by Billy So, one of the leading scholars of Chinese legal and commercial history. While the Commercial Press of early 20th-century Shanghai has been extensively studied, this book uniquely employs comparative methods, examining relevant commercial laws and the financial statements of the publishing enterprises, which have often been overlooked by previous scholars.
The book consists of 13 chapters organized into four parts. The first part provides a brief overview of “The Two Dragons of the Book Industry in China and Japan” prior to the 1930s. Since many details about the early history of the Shanghai-based Commercial Press have already been well explored, the discussions here primarily focus on the forgotten stories of the Tōkyō Kinkōdō 金港堂 which was dissolved after the Second World War, alongside the joint-venture phase of these two publishing giants in the early 20th century. The Sos argue that although the Japanese contribution to the establishment of the Commercial Press cannot be overstated, the good intentions of Ryōsaburō Hara 原亮三郎 (1848-1919), the founder of Kinkōdō, in supporting Qing China’s education reforms through his textbook publishing experience and investments in the Commercial Press are indisputable. The involvement of Japanese partners in providing funds and educational expertise was crucial to the establishment of the Shanghai publisher.
The second part discusses the characteristics of the entrepreneurs behind these publishing giants and their respective business styles. One particularly insightful observation concerns corruption and reform performance. It is almost universally recognized that the severe corruption of late Qing China was a major factor contributing to the failure of modernization reforms. But the Sos present a counter-narrative through the 1903 corruption case involving Ryōsaburō Hara. This case illustrates that even in the realm of education, Meiji reformers accepted bribes, much like their Qing counterparts. This suggests that corruption, in the contemporary sense, may not have been the sole barrier preventing China from achieving modernity. Furthermore, the Sos utilize taxation documents to demonstrate how the leaders of the Commercial Press moved beyond short-term profit motives. They chose to invest in the loss-making Chinese typewriter, aiming to promote Chinese culture in the long term. Unfortunately, the notable work The Chinese Typewriter: A History (Cambridge, Mass: The MIT Press, 2017) by Thomas S. Mullaney is not discussed, which could have enriched the narrative regarding the contributions of the Commercial Press typewriter in the prolong quest of this machinery in modern China, stimulated to discussions on interesting multimedia elements like the advertising animated film “The Shu Zhendong Chinese Typewriter” broadcasted as the earliest of its kind in China by the Commercial Press.
Additionally, a chapter in this part addresses the management’s rational choice to refrain from investing in the paper-making industry. The Sos reveal that while leaders of the Commercial Press debated the merits of entering this costly sector, the faction opposed to it ultimately prevailed, opting to minimize financial risks to their core publishing business amid a backdrop of weak governmental support for national industries. This exposes the exceptional difficulties faced by the Commercial Press in development when compared to its Japanese counterpart.
The third part, titled “Fiction and Reality of the Firm’s Numbers,” explores how new perspectives on commercial history can be gained by analyzing the accounting balance sheets of publishers from various countries. Using the Commercial Press as a stable benchmark, the Sos compare its balance sheets from 1914, 1929, and 1932 with those of leading publishers in America, Japan, and China. Their findings indicate that the Commercial Press was significantly more cost-effective in profit-making than its contemporaries, benefiting from a more aggressive strategic approach in financial arrangements. For instance, its earnings per share in 1929 nearly doubled that of the Macmillan Company in New York, the largest publisher in the U.S. at the time.
The investigation in the fourth part focuses on the transplantation of Western Company Law to East Asian countries, extending far beyond the book industry. This section discusses the introduction and adaptation of the shareholding limited company model through the lens of various countries’ company laws over different periods. Building on David Faure’s arguments, Chapter 9 posits that the first Chinese company law, introduced in 1904, was prepared by British-trained lawyer Wu Tingfang 伍廷芳 (1842-1922). However, Wu’s Common Law background produced a code lacking practical application details, as the Common Law system traditionally leaves judicial interpretations and follow-up rules to “judges’ legislation.” This approach was ill-suited for China at the time, where a mature judiciary capable of producing agreeable decisions was not yet established. The two follow-up legislations enacted during the Republican period in 1914 and 1929 respectively, are also examined, revealing why the shareholding company model was hard to transplant in China. A good explanation is that the impartiality emphasized by limited shareholder companies might have clashed with the Chinese social structure, which often leaned towards favoritism.
While this book may not present an obviously coherent study centered on a narrow topic, it certainly surpasses the notion of being a “So-So” work. It excels not by adhering to a strong central theme or straightforward research question but by showcasing the originality and concrete discoveries found in each individual chapter. Some chapters, however, could benefit from further refinement; for example, Chapter 12, which disputes the widely accepted claim that the Commercial Press first registered in Hong Kong in 1905, as no such record is found in the government archives, could be relegated to an appendix or condensed into a long endnote to maintain focus on more essential themes. Similarly, the entire third part detailing the firms’ financial numbers could be streamlined into a concise table highlighting the important observations on the differences in financial performance among Kinkōdō, the Commercial Press, and the two Macmillan companies, leaving detailed financial reports for an appendix. While the accounting balance sheets of different countries have indeed been under-researched, presenting them in their original format directly in the chapters may not be the most effective way to encourage future commercial history studies to employ them as the central source materials.
The true main argument of the book emerges subtly in the conclusion, offering a profound reflection on the value of traditional morality in the commercial world as observed in the case studies of Japanese and Chinese book enterprises. The Sos assert that no transplanted commercial law can be effectively implemented in East Asia without integrating elements of native morality. These powerful altruistic values serve to balance the profit-driven orientation stemming from Western Social Darwinism. Ultimately, the thought-provoking question arises: “Is the law of the jungle the only truth found in modern commerce?” This inquiry encapsulates the essence of this extensive exploration of the East Asian commercial landscape.
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ISCLH Book Review Editor
MA Tsang Wing, Ben
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
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