This article uses the concept of Social-Ecological System to study systematically the external reasons of the development of the privately-run publishing industry in modern China. From the views of this article,within these few decades,what the industry had completed required its Western counterpart 200 years of history. Besides that it followed the laws of development of industries as its internal conditions, such as institutional building, internal administration, and operational principles, more importantly, it deeply investigated the Social-Ecological System, especially the external environment which supported its development, and this is also the main and creative argumentation in this article. Now China's publishing industry is following the requirements of industrial development, branching into cultural development, and keeping restoring its original characteristics as publishing industry. Hence, having deep knowledge of historical experience, and summarizing successes and failures is crucial for enlarging and strengthening China's press industry. There are mainly four external factors as stated below: Firstly, in modern China, the development of market economy, the strong commercial atmosphere, and the advancement of industrial technology (phototypography) combine to promote the transformation of the traditional publishing into the modern one, helping private publishing entrepreneurs gain a macro environmental support and modern techniques that are indispensable for industrial development.  Secondly, the change of China's political situation after the Opium War forced Chinese Intellectuals to turn to Western countries in order to achieve national rejuvenation. Translating and introducing Western books was therefore the early method adopted to enlighten people and respond to their needs. After the collapse of Chinese traditional imperial examination system, the government advocated the New Educational and Library Movement, which became a direct factor contributing to the prosperity of the modern book market. Private publishing originated from government-run publishing and church publishing, and finally became the leading force of modern Chinese publishing industry.  Thirdly, to satisfy people's growing demand for intellectual property protection and the market competition mainstay's request of establishing a fair and just competition environment, the government on the macroscopic level issued related laws and regulations for the protection of rights and interests of authors and publishing entities, setting up an environment with systems and policies to ensure the development and competition of the modern market.  Fourthly, as the product of the development of commercial society, it represents the emergence of organizations of book industry by the folk force in the public field, which plays an important role in helping the government build a market of a just and fair competitive environment, regulating the operation of book industry, maintaining the order of the book market, improving the management environment, defending the rights and interests of publishing entities, striving for the freedom of publishing and the healthy development of publishing industry. In its game with the government, Self-organizing Theory has come into play in the development of private publishing industry in modern times.  According to the requirements of modern business organizations and the dual nature of publishing enterprises, the main body of private publishing industry, particularly the Commercial Press and Zhonghua Book Company, has become an important part of modern Chinese capitalist industrial system, promoting the development of modern Chinese national industry. At the same time, a group of intellectuals in the publishing industry, such as Zhang Yuanji, Lubi Kui, and Wang Yunwu and others broke through the institutional barriers within the commitment to cultural and moral bottom line, created the healthy core ''system of life'' of the publishing industry's development, and took advantage of and built the Social-Ecological System which supported its sustained development.The combination of both promoted the modern transition of traditional Chinese culture, thereby completed the modernization of the modern publishing history.