A sketch of The Commercial Press' employees from Fuzhou. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

As the first publishing house in modern China, The Commercial Press was founded in Shanghai in 1897 with the dual objectives of preserving Chinese culture and disseminating information from abroad.

One of The Commercial Press's first branches in China was in Fuzhou, which was established in May 1906. It was also the first branch founded in the province of Fujian by a publishing and distribution company outside of Fujian.

A group of intellectuals from Fujian contributed to publish dictionaries, textbooks, and translated works of literature. According to figures provided by Zhuang Yu, who had worked at The Commercial Press for 30 years, 45 employees from Fujian were employed by the company's main branch in 1931.

A file photo of the interior view of The Commercial Press. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]