上海—香港—新加坡的都市網絡與南洋文化生產

The Shanghai-Hong Kong-Singapore Network and Maritime Cultural Production

二十世紀初至1930年代，商務印書館與中華書局的發行網絡已遍及全中國。本文則揭示，同時期這兩家出版商也將發行網絡拓展到了東南亞的海外華人社群。從1916年開始，兩家公司都在新加坡建立分部及零售中心，將書籍行銷到南洋各地城鎮。兩家書商不只在上海、後來也在香港建立了印刷廠，以利供應東南亞市場。它們的跨國生意策略是：在南洋收集市場資訊，在上海編輯新書刊，在上海或香港印刷，然後再運到新加坡進一步銷售發行。這套營運系統連結了上海、香港與新加坡，可謂善加利用了南洋殖民地、半殖民地的都市網絡。這兩家中國大出版商跨國、跨殖民地的經營方式，類似於更老牌的英文書籍出版商別發印書館（Kelly & Walsh, Ltd.）；不過，中華和商務在運作結構上，仍與別發有所不同。別發在上海、香港、新加坡與橫濱也都設有分公司，這些分公司都可在當地徵求作者，主要是殖民地官員、商人和傳教士，並可直接就地印刷、出版並販售；其出版品主題、類別多樣，包括實用工具書和通俗讀物，如語言學習、關稅表、地理、旅遊指南等等，客群以英語系僑民為主。因此，別發各分公司都既可以是出版中心，也可以是經銷中心，形成了一個不是由公司總部統一決策、生產、銷售的無頭網絡結構。相較之下，商務與中華在海外乃是以東南亞華人社群、華文學校為對象，最大宗的出版品則是教科書，其生產有賴大量且集中的勞力與資本，所以兩間大出版商都發展出一套以上海為編纂中心，在滬、港印製出版，然後透過新加坡將出版品批售到東南亞各地區的軸輻體系。而經由這兩類各具特色的經銷網絡，這三家出版公司流通發行的書籍，也各自裨益了英國和中國的殖民事業。

During the first three decades of the twentieth century, the Commercial Press and Zhonghua Book Company developed book distribution networks that spread throughout China. This article demonstrates that they also extended those distribution networks internationally to Southeast Asia to sell books to overseas Chinese communities there. They first set up branch offices and affiliated retail centers in Singapore; from there, they disseminated books to cities and towns throughout the region. Both publishers also set up printing factories in Hong Kong, which facilitated the supply of books to the Southeast Asia market. These companies developed a transnational publishing strategy through which they gathered market information about demand in Southeast Asia, distilled it into a basis for compiling new products in Shanghai, used a flexible production system to print texts either in Shanghai or Hong Kong, and then distributed them through the regional marketing center of Singapore. This system took advantage of a semi-colonial/colonial urban network linking Shanghai, Hong Kong, and Singapore. The transnational approach of the Chinese publishers paralleled that of the older English-language publishing company, Kelly & Walsh, Ltd., which had branches in Shanghai, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Yokohama. The publishers differed, however, in the structure of their transnational/trans-colonial production and distribution systems. Kelly & Walsh diversified their publications by recruiting potential authors in each of their locations and selling books locally. Each branch was thus a center for both publishing and distribution, creating an acephalous, or“headless,”network. By contrast, because textbooks, which were labor- and capital-intensive, were the leading commodities for the Commercial Press and Zhonghua Book Company, both publishers developed a hub-and-spoke system of centralized production and regional and international distribution. Through these distribution networks, these companies circulated books that contributed in distinctive ways to British and Chinese colonial projects.