This thesis examines how traditional textbooks in the late Qing and early Republican periods consistently performed the educational function of transmitting old and new knowledge attuned with the period needs. The publication of many new textbooks and Western translations in the early Republic of China did not completely occupy the Republican textbook publishing market; traditional textbooks still maintained a position on the bookshelf. This thesis takes a historical textbook that spans the late Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China – Shijian jieyao biandu – as an example to explore the editions' characteristics at different stages and analyze their internal and physical characteristics and printing strategies. I argue that traditional knowledge was not an obstacle to the publication of traditional textbooks, but rather in combination with new publishing strategies, made reprints a medium for the dissemination of “new knowledge” in the Republic.