The late Mr. Iwanami Shigeo, founder of the Iwanami Shoten, was committed to the idea of cultural prosperity, free expression of public will, and friendship between China and Japan all his life. Mr. Iwanami Shigeo repeatedly denounced and criticized Japan authority when Japan invaded northeastern China, and determined to make a book donation to the most famous universities in China to promote cross-cultural understanding and communication. In June 1937, while the book donation plan was ready to be launched, the Sino-Japanese War broke out, leading to the abortion of the plan. In April 1946, Mr. Iwanami Shigeo passed away. The next year, his successor Mr. Iwaba Yujiro made an agreement with the Republic of China government. According to the donation agreement, five universities (Peking University, Wuhan University, Sun Yat-sen University, Jinan University and National Central University) were chosen to receive the newly printed books of Iwanami Shoten. Mr. Iwanami Shigeo’s wish was finally fulfilled.
By 2013, Iwanami Shoten has been continually donating to Peking University Library for 66 years, contributing 600 volumes books per year, which adds up to 21825 monographs/23872 volumes in total (by May 2013). The donations are worth more than RMB 10 million. With its long-lasting and generous donation, Iwanami Shoten continually brings us Japan's cutting-edge academic achievements and outstanding works, making an outstanding contributions to the education and scientific research at PKU.