Murasaki Chōei (村崎長昶)

Murasaki Chōei (村崎長昶; 1870 - 1960) was a Japanese book publisher active in Taipei, Taiwan. Murasaki is considered the founder of the Taiwan bookselling industry and was the largest bookseller in Taiwan during the Japanese Occupation (1895 - 1945). He studied at a private school in Japan before relocating to Okinawa in July of 1893. After the Japanese annexation of Taiwan following the First Sino-Japanese War (1894 - 1895), he was sent to Taipei with the Ministry of the Army. He initially handled engineering regulation and real estate sales for the Ministry. Later in 1895, he resigned to set up his own business, Muasaki Office, negotiating legal contracts and real estate sales. This business was apparently not very successful and Murasaki fell into heavy drinking. Despite this, in 1898, he founded another business, the Xin Gaotang Bookstore (新高堂書店). Initially a small stationer, the business grew rapidly. In 1915, he constructed a large three-story bookstore in Taipei's Changjing Village, at the modern intersection of Hengyang Road and Chongqing South Road. Other publishers and booksellers followed, transforming the area into an industry hub. By the time World War II broke out, Xin Goatang was the largest bookseller in Taiwan. After the war, Murasaki returned to Japan, where he died shortly thereafter. His bookstore, under new management, was renamed the Oriental Publishing House. The original brick building survived until the 1980s, when it was demolished and replaced with a modern mall known as the 'Oriental Building.'