His first foray came in 1987, when he tapped into China's abundant supply of reasonably priced translators, editors, photographers, and other specialists. With the assistance of over 100 scholars and several thousand photographers, his company turned out three massive reference works on Chinese art that were the talk of the art publishing world for a good while.
許鐘榮結合台灣出版人選題企畫能力與大陸豐富的人文、自然景觀，還有彼岸豐沛價廉的翻譯、編輯、攝影等人才，動員大陸百餘學者和數千名攝影家完成《中國美術全集》、《江山萬里》、《中國大百科》等大部書，轟動一時。