臺北市政府文化局

Tucked away in the alleys of Bade Road near Civic Boulevard is the bookstore Hansheng Lane, marked by giant sculpture of a brush with the characters漢聲 standing by the entrance. The store’s unique door is shaped like a gourd (historically used to store medicinal liquids), symbolizing that the culture sold within is to be taken in the manner of a cure.

In addition to being a bookstore, this shop holds a special place in the childhood memories of many born in the 1970s and ’80s, as it is the birthplace of the Hansheng Encyclopedia for Children and Hansheng Encyclopedia for Preschool Children, published by Echo Publishing Co., with a combined circulation of over 250,000 sets.

The publishing house was founded in the 1970s, which was a time of confusion and uncertainty for many Taiwanese people, as the Republic of China had just left the United Nations. This period saw the emergence of Huang Yung-sung, Linda Wu (Wu Meiyun), Yao Meng-chia, and Shi Sung, known collectively as the “Four Gentlemen of Hansheng, who set up the English-language magazine ECHO to reach an international audience. A few years later, they decided to turn their efforts closer to home and engage in dialogue with the Taiwanese people by publishing the magazine Hansheng. Their goal was to explore and reinvigorate folk arts, traditional customs, and cultural heritage. In the 78th issue in 1994, titled “Saving the Longtan Shengji Pavilion”, they documented their efforts to preserve a cherished pavilion from demolition. Their success in protecting this significant cultural site, the largest of its kind in Taiwan, is testament to their dedication.

In the 1980s, Echo Publishing greatly broadened the scope of its output, publishing in 1984 and 1987 two of Taiwan’s best-known children’s book series: Hansheng Encyclopedia for Children and Hansheng Encyclopedia for Preschool Children. With their comprehensive coverage of a wide range of topics, the encyclopedias gave countless Taiwanese children an introduction to history and geography, and even predicted how the world would look fifty years into the future (i.e. nowadays). Although Echo Publishing is no longer releasing new publications, the books and magazines displayed in the store still reflect the efforts of Taiwanese intellectuals of the time.