The history of human civilization, in a sense, is the history of publishing. Publishing compiles the remarkable material and intellectual creations of mankind, and organizes, processes, and disseminates these achievements to the public in the form of textual content, images, charts, audio and video, facilitating their widespread dissemination. This process shapes the civilization’s evolution and human progress. Publishing not only participates in it with its social responsibility and professional style, but also plays an irreplaceable role and creates a cultural style that is unique to mankind. The academic community is accustomed to positioning publishing as "spreading knowledge, inheriting culture" or even merely "collecting and organizing information". However, such perspectives are obviously insufficient and do not conform to the historical achievements and actual development of publishing. In ancient societies, publishing served as a creator of traditional culture; while in modern times, it plays the role of a leader of modern culture. Publishing should re-examine its own history, and re-evaluate its historical achievements by engaging with realities and developing a deeper understanding of itself, that is, publishing creates culture in its own way. This article expounds on the publishing activities of ancient, modern and new eras, examines the unique cultural mission and responsibilities of publishing in each era, and proves that the role of publishing in creating culture has never diminished from ancient to contemporary times. Specifically, the study highlights three key dimensions. First, publishing is the creator of traditional culture. It created content culture through the arrangement, editing and publication of ancient classics; created graphic structure art culture through layout design and binding design; and created the unique material culture of books with Chinese binding form. Second, publishing is the leader of modern culture. It has brought modern scientific culture to China; created a new publishing material culture that combines Chinese and Western cultures; and created a new type of industrial and commercial social culture by opening up the modern enterprise system. Third, publishing is the initiator of the new culture of the new era. It firstly builds the cultural peak of Chinese modernization with new academic publishing creations; and then builds the new culture of publishing and media with new industrial technologies and new forms. Finally, it improves the "scientific" level of reading culture with the trend of popularization of knowledge. In short, each society has its own needs, and different needs form different waves of the times. The topics, challenges, and issues that reflect the needs of the country, the nation and the times are those to which the publishing industry should give the greatest consideration, attention, and response. In different historical eras, facing different responsibilities and missions, publishing has created its own unique cultural forms. Responding to the topics, challenges and issues of the new era in its own way constitutes cultural innovation aligned with the times, creating a new culture of the times, which plays an indispensable role in the development of human society and the evolution of civilization. In the new historical era, as China embarks on the path of building a socialist modern country with Chinese characteristics, publishers should shoulder their mission of the times, live up to the trust of the times, and create a new culture of the new era.