Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House Co., Ltd. is one of the important reference book publishing institutions in China, mainly publishing comprehensive dictionaries, Chinese dictionaries, specialist dictionaries, as well as manuals, chronology, indexes, yearbooks, etc. Its predecessor was the Cihai Editorial Institute of Zhonghua Book Company, which was established in August 1958. It was renamed the current name in January 1978. It is the first professional reference book publishing house in my country. The publishing direction of Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House can be roughly divided into three major sections: various reference books, document compilation and academic publishing.

In the field of reference book publishing, in addition to undertaking major national publishing projects such as "Cihai", "Da Cihai", and "Chinese Dictionary", they also published "Dictionary of Chinese History", "Dictionary of Chinese Literature", and "Dictionary of Philosophy" 》, "Dictionary of Chinese Archaeology", "Dictionary of Place Names in Ancient and Modern China", and "Dictionary of European History" and other specialized reference books.

In terms of Chinese reference books, the "Chinese Idiom Dictionary" and "Ancient Chinese Dictionary" have successively been launched. The "Tang Poetry Appreciation Dictionary" has set a precedent for the publication of Chinese appreciation dictionaries. Since its publication in 1983, it has been well-selling for more than 30 years. The "Chinese Literature Appreciation Dictionary Series" and other successively launched, from horizontal to edge to vertical to bottom, covering Chinese literature in time from pre-Qin to modern times, and in style, it includes poetry, lyrics, music, novels and other fields.

In the field of document compilation and publishing, from handed down documents and unearthed documents to modern documents and artistic documents, Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House has published a number of important books, such as "The Complete Song Dynasty Text", "The Original Works of Rare Books of Shanghai Library", and "Oracle Bone Inscriptions" The General Collection of School Interpretations, "Qin Slips Collection of Yuelu Academy", "Compilation of Textbooks for Modern Primary and Secondary Schools in China", "Compilation of Modern Chinese Traditional Chinese Medicine Journals", and "Colored Books to Enlarge the Series of Famous Chinese Inscriptions and Calligraphy".

In the field of academic publishing, it covers humanities, social sciences, science and technology, etc., such as "Academic Committee Library of Chinese Academy of Social Sciences", "Complete Works of Gu Tinglong", "General History of Shanghai", etc.

The predecessor of the Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House Library was the Zhonghua Book Company Library, which was founded in the fifth year of the Republic of China. There are currently more than 700,000 books, newspapers and journals of various types, and a number of isolated and rare books are collected. It has gradually formed special collections such as local chronicles, modern textbooks, and Chinese and foreign reference books.