Official Chinese Name: 東立出版社有限公司
Founded in 1977 by Fang Wan-nan, Tong Li is one of the largest comics publishers in Taiwan. The company got its start in pirating Japanese manga, which despite its official ban in the country, was often smuggled in due to large demand which greatly exceeded that for Taiwanese manhua. Tong Li was especially prolific in this area — by 1992, Tong Li had published more than a thousand titles, all illegally. It even released a weekly magazine, Youth Express, made entirely of pirated series. Fang even jokingly referred to himself as the "king of pirated comics".
By the early 1990s, Tong Li established itself as perhaps the largest player in the manga publishing scene. Between 1988 and 1992, the ten or so comics pirating publishers entered into an agreement with Japanese publishers and drew lots to determine which new releases would be published by which firm. Tong Li received 44 percent of all new titles.
With the introduction of a revised copyright law in 1992, Tong Li started official licensing and releasing of manga. Spin-off magazines of well-known Japanese ones were published, such as Formosa Youth (Weekly Shonen Jump) and New Youth Express (Weekly Shonen Magazine). Tong Li also entered into the domestic manhua market with such magazines as Dragon Youth and Star Girls.
Tong Li as it is has a strong foothold in both Taiwan and Hong Kong through its branch. The publisher releases a large variety of manga and manhua, ranging from well-known shonen series such as One Piece and Dragon Ball to Boys' Love and Girls' Love to the famous manhua The Ravages of Time. While it hasn't evaded the overall trend of decreasing print demand for comics in Taiwan, through organizing comic-cons and training programs for aspiring artists, Tong Li has built a strong presence to last.
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