In the early period of the IHP, as scholars conducted long-term fieldwork and survey projects outside the IHP, they frequently experienced difficulties in receiving transferred funds needed to pay for expenditures due to the remoteness of the site, inconvenient transportation, etc. In these moments, the Commercial Press, which had branches in several major cities, often provided pertinent assistance.
While researcher Ti-chou Pai (1900–1934) was conducting a dialect survey in Shaanxi in 1933, for example, a portion of his funding was first remitted to the Commercial Press in Shanghai, which in turn was transferred to the branch in Xi’an before reaching Pai. A second example is that of scholar Yun-kuei Tao (1904–1944), who was engaged in an ethnographic survey in Yunnan in 1935. Owing to the inaccessibility of postal remittance in Shuangjiang county, with the consent of Editor-in-Chief Yun-wu Wang (1888–1979), the IHP first remitted Tao’s funding to the Commercial Press in Nanjing, which was then forwarded to Principal Li Zhucun in Shuangjiang by the branch in Kunming and finally given to Tao. The transfer of funds from one party to another highlights the difficulty of conducting fieldwork and surveys at that time, but thanks to the assistance of the Commercial Press, scholars were able to receive timely funding to continue their research.
While researcher Ti-chou Pai (1900–1934) was conducting a dialect survey in Shaanxi in 1933, for example, a portion of his funding was first remitted to the Commercial Press in Shanghai, which in turn was transferred to the branch in Xi’an before reaching Pai. A second example is that of scholar Yun-kuei Tao (1904–1944), who was engaged in an ethnographic survey in Yunnan in 1935. Owing to the inaccessibility of postal remittance in Shuangjiang county, with the consent of Editor-in-Chief Yun-wu Wang (1888–1979), the IHP first remitted Tao’s funding to the Commercial Press in Nanjing, which was then forwarded to Principal Li Zhucun in Shuangjiang by the branch in Kunming and finally given to Tao. The transfer of funds from one party to another highlights the difficulty of conducting fieldwork and surveys at that time, but thanks to the assistance of the Commercial Press, scholars were able to receive timely funding to continue their research.