"Our publishing houses are God’s appointed centers, and through them is to be accomplished a work the magnitude of which is yet unrealized.” said Ellen G. White.

On October 23, 2005, the Chinese Union Mission (CHUM) celebrated the centennial of the Signs of Times Magazine at the Taiwan Adventist Hospital Medical Center Auditorium.

120 invited guests from the Adventist Church and public societies participated giving congratulations, including Taiwan Bible Society Chairperson Xiugong Ong, Calvin Deng, former STPA (Signs of Times Publishing Association) Editor (1970-82) and Taiwan Conference President (1983), the CHUM President James Wu. The keynote addresses given by Pastor Ong and Wu impressed the participants with stimulating and encouraging messages.

The landmark Adventist monthly magazine initially was published with the name, ‘the Gospel Herald,’ in 1905 by the Adventist Church (Editor Dr. Hony Miller) in Shang-tsai, Honan, China. In 1908, it’s name was changed to ‘Signs of the Times,’ and the publishing house was moved to Shanghai. It had been recognized as the largest Christian Publishing House in 1909.

Because of many difficult situations for the publication, the publishing house had been moved from place to place such as Hong Kong in 1939, Chungking in 1942, Shanghai in 1946, Hong Kong in 1947, Taiwan in 1956, and finally the current location, Taipei in 1976. Currently 6,000 copies of the magazines have been published in Chinese monthly to carry the Gospel to people.

“The attendants were like a big family gathering showing their warm hearted joy. ‘Journey Back to the Signs of the Times’ Exhibition was very impressive, tracing events all the way back to year 1905 with old front pages and copies of early issues. The Special issue of Signs of the Times magazine was published with all valuable documents and data,” said Hanson Cho, Manager and Editor of the Signs of the Times Publishing Association.

During the celebration program four senior staff were given awards for their serving the STPA for more than 20 years: Tsai, Shu Ying (31), Song, Daw Ming (24), Hanson Cho (23), and Selina Chang (20).

< The Signs of the Times History >

1905 Dr. Hony Miller published the Gospel Herald in Shang-tsai, Honan
1908 It's name was change to“Signs of the Times” and moved to Shanghai
1909 It's became the largest Christian Publishing House
1915 60,000 copies of the Signs were published per issue
1930 Besides one large publishing house we had two brance offices.
1939～1947 During War Years
1939 Moved to Hong Kong
1941 Closed following the fall of Hong kong
1942 Re-established in Chungking
1943 “Signs”started being published again
1946 Moved back to Shanghai
1947 Move back Hong Kong, after which time the FED assumed responsibility
1956 Elder Ezra Longway re-established the union publishing work in Taiwan
1963 STPA organized formally
1969 Southeast Asia Publishing House turned the“Signs”over to the Signs of Publishing Association and we established an independent administration
1973 Typing and Type-setting department
1976 Moved to 424 Pa The Rd., Sec. 2, Taipei
1977 An offset Press Purchased Changed to high speed offset press
1983 Darkroom, cameras and film processing equipment added
1984 Binding machine, computerized cutting machine and folding machine added. New STPA building ground breaking.
1986～ Until today