Joint Publishing
Encyclopedia
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
in 18 October 1948. It is one of major book store chains in Hong Kong. Currently a subsidiary company of Sino United Publishing (Holdings) Limited.
The book store was merged from three leading publishers and book stores, (生活書店), (讀書出版社) and (新知書店) , at Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
in 1948. The newly merged book store was closely related to the communist government at that time. Many intellects stayed in Hong Kong and publishing in Hong Kong was its main business. It moved its headquarters to Peking with many key staff in March 1949. Joint Publishing (HK) was its subsidiary.
After the establishment of People's Republic of China
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
in 1 October 1949, the book store located in Hong Kong was mainly responsible for publishing materials from mainland China. While the main branch in mainland China was nationalized. After the coming of Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
in mainland China in 1966, the publishing business in mainland China was seriously damaged and the book store in Hong Kong earned its survival by republishing old books.
With several re-locations, it finally settled in current premises in Queen Victoria Street
Queen Victoria Street, Hong Kong
Queen Victoria Street is a street in Central, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. The street links Queen's Road Central, Des Voeux Road Central and Connaught Road Central. It is where Central Market and the headquarters of Hang Seng Bank locates....
in May 1971 and opened a retail store at the ground floor in July 1974.
The Cultural Revolution ended in 1976 and was soon replaced with economic reform. In 1978 the book store in Hong Kong decided to publish their own books independently and join with other international publishers. It initially targeted in Chinese culture, literature
Chinese literature
Chinese literature extends thousands of years, from the earliest recorded dynastic court archives to the mature fictional novels that arose during the Ming Dynasty to entertain the masses of literate Chinese...
and art
Chinese art
Chinese art is visual art that, whether ancient or modern, originated in or is practiced in China or by Chinese artists or performers. Early so-called "stone age art" dates back to 10,000 BC, mostly consisting of simple pottery and sculptures. This early period was followed by a series of art...
and later concentrated Hong Kong topics and social science. Its direction was proved successful and the book store aggressively opened branches in Hong Kong.
Outside Hong Kong, the book store expanded to various cities in mainland China by joint venture, and five stores in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
, specifically in Toronto, Vancouver, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco.
In mainland China, Sdxjoint Publishing Company (生活·讀書·新知三聯書店) and Shanghai Joint Publishing Company (上海三聯書店) were found in 1986 but not related to the Hong Kong company.