Guo Chongxing, the founder of Reading Republic, passed away at the age of 77. The Ministry of Culture will submit a petition to the President for commendation.

Guo Chongxing, founder and president of Reading Republic Publishing Group and founder of Guo Yimei Bookstore, passed away yesterday (7th) at the age of 77. Minister of Culture Li Yuanjin expressed his condolences and reluctance on the 8th. He affirmed that Guo Chongxing has devoted himself to the publishing industry for nearly 40 years, cultivated publishing talents with a unique publishing platform system, and made profound contributions to Taiwan’s ideological enlightenment, reading promotion and cultural development. The Ministry of Culture will submit an official order from the President to commend him.

Kuo Chung-hsing started publishing work after graduating from National Taiwan University. He was the founder of Chengbang Publishing Group and the founder of Owl Publishing House. In 2000, he founded the Reading Republic Publishing Group, proposing the concept of "an editor is the boss of a publishing house" and positioning the group as a logistics support platform, providing financial, business and distribution resources, allowing its editor-in-chief to have a high degree of autonomy in book selection and publishing.

Under this system, Reading Republic has successively developed about 60 publishing brands, including Trojan Horse, Left Bank, and Eight Banners. The publishing fields cover literature, history, popular science, humanities, and social sciences, and it also continues to publish Taiwanese works. The Ministry of Culture pointed out that even during the financial tsunami in 2009 and the publishing industry faced a downturn, Guo Chongxing continued to expand and support emerging publishing brands. In 2017, the Ministry of Culture awarded him the "Special Contribution Award" of the 41st Golden Tripod Award in recognition of his long-term investment in Taiwan's publishing industry.

In recent years, Guo Chongxing has also invested in physical bookstores, restoring his family's ancestral home in Dadaocheng, Taipei, and reopening "Guo Yimei Bookstore" at the end of 2022, extending his publishing business to physical reading spaces and local literature and history.

Li Yuan said that Guo Chongxing has used the publishing platform system to inject diversified publishing energy into Taiwan's book market and cultivate publishing talents for many years. The Ministry of Culture stated that his death is a loss to Taiwan's cultural community and will request the president to issue an explicit commendation in recognition of his contribution to publishing and cultural development.