Research On The Fate Of Rent Bookstalls In Nanjing City (1950-1965)

After the founding of the People's Republic of China,because of the scarce entertainments,the rent bookstalls in the city proper in Nanjing which was enjoyed by common people had continued its prosperity of the past for a long time.The low cost and thin profits attracted many social vulnerable groups to do this trade.Most of the books rented in the open-air bookstall were novels and comic strips which were provided by Xinhua bookstores or bought by vendors themselves.And the mainreaders were residents nearby and teenagers.But this relatively free development environment began to change from 1954.In order to shape and consolidate the socialist ideology,after controlling the mainstream media,the publishing industry and modifying intellectuals,the new regime focused on the renting bookstall which was closely related to ordinary life,hoping it to be a weapon for the masses of the people's education thoughts.As the reflection of class struggle became the highest standard of the literary and artistic creation and the elimination of counterrevolutionaries began.The communist party controlled the field of ideology and culture more strictly.So most of the novels and comics in bookstalls were regarded as the "sugar-coated cannonballs" of Chiang Kai-Shek and the capitalism attacking the new regime.On July 22,1955,the State Council issued an instruction about dealing with reactionary,obscene,fantastic books.So the new regime began to make a massive clean-up about the books in bookstalls which were not complying with the provisions of the Chinese communist political demands.And the private ownership of the bookstall was to be transformed into public ownership.This reform mainly included three steps:publicity and mobilization of people,confiscation and replacement of books,application for registration and organization of vendors.As a result,most of the vendors took the form of group cooperation.With the number of new books increasing and the reading environment improved.However,so many old books were cleaned up and the number of new books couldn't fill the blank.And the political implications of new books were too strong to suit the common people's reading interest.So this situation affected the rent book business to a certain extent.It also reflected the goal that the new regime wanted to popularize the socialist culture through renting books hadn't been reached.The effect of the transformation in the middle of 1950s didn't last for a long time.When the management was relatively loose in the early 1960s,most of the vendors were back to their go-it-alone business and the books which should be cleaned up appeared in the bookstalls again.At the same time,there had been a serious imbalance between supply and demand of books nationwide.In order to change such situation,Nanjing government organized another large-scale transformation of the bookstalls in 1961-1962.The transformation on the one hand continued the basic measures of the transformation of the 1950s,on the other hand took a number of new methods to solve some specific problems,such as paving books sources in three grades of distribution and so on.In addition,the management and control of vendors was further strengthened.Through this transformation,most of the bookstalls made some limited development under the control of Cultural Sector and were given full play to their role in promoting books in circulation,thus easing the supply and demand imbalance of books to some extent.However,the number of new books was still insufficient for various reasons.Besides,common people's interest in reading was closely related to their cultural level and living conditions that was difficult to change in the short term.So the gap between the new books influenced by policy and the interest in reading of common people hadn't been narrower.Still the effect of reforming people's thought through bookstalls was not very obvious which was revealed in the investigation in early 1966.In addition to the influence of the policy by the state,the Xinhua bookstores,libraries,cultural centers also had the competition with rent bookstalls.But they did not take great advantages at that time.In Xinhua bookstores only the shop assistants had the right to take the books you want.But you could read anything you like freely in bookstalls.And the main task of Nanjing library was to serve science research.Most of the readers there were intellectuals.As to culture centers,they always focused on organizing recreational activities instead of offering books for common people.More importantly,rent bookstall industry had its own unique advantages.For vendors,the low cost and good profit with convenience in setting up the stalls made most of them reluctant to give up this business.For readers,the interesting books in stalls met the needs of people to relax.And the price of renting was so cheap that almost everyone could afford.Meanwhile,most of the movable flexible bookstalls were situated in the streets,so it was convenient for people to pick a book in a while when they passed by.Therefore,while the two large-scale socialist transformations made some negative impacts on the business of rent bookstalls in the city proper in Nanjing.But they still maintained their own living space under pressure until it suffered during the disaster of Cultural Revolution.Through dialysis of the fate of rent bookstalls in Nanjing city from 1950 to 1965,it could be further seen that although the common people and the State shared the same aspirations in aspects of cleaning reading environment so as to promote growth of young people and safeguard social security and so on.In fact,the national ideology penetration infiltrated in people's daily life and the reaction of the Grass-roots society was a complex and long process.