Chapter 56 The origin of Chinese engraving

The origin of Chinese engraving The original form of Chinese books is a stack of leaflets with bamboo slices running through them, and scrolls mounted with paper silk. volume, so a book is called a book or a volume.After printing was invented, there were printed books.engraved copy Each page of the book is carved with a whole block of wood and then printed, so it was not called a printed book at first but a printed book. Called engraved book.The process of engraving characters on a wooden board when engraving a book is called engraving. The engraving and printing technology was invented by the Chinese, and it is the third of the paper-making gunpowder guide, which was developed in China.

Four inventions that have contributed most to mankind in the history of world culture.Chinese woodblock prints are currently available The earliest physical object I have seen is a block-printed volume of the Diamond Sutra, which was published by the British archaeologist Stein in 1999. It was discovered in the famous Dunhuang Stone Chamber in Gansu, my country in 2007, and it is now in the British Museum in London, England. This engraved Diamond Sutra still maintains the original form of Chinese books—the form of a scroll, with There are Buddha statues, which are also carved in wood.Therefore, this volume of the Diamond Sutra is not only the oldest carved book in the world,

At the same time, in the history of world art, it is also the oldest extant woodcut. The reason why this engraved version of the Diamond Sutra is valuable is that its publication date is clearly recorded at the end of the volume. It contains: "On April 15th, the ninth year of Xiantong, Wang Jie respected and made general offerings for his two relatives."Xiantong is the year name of Emperor Yizong of Tang Dynasty. The ninth year of Xiantong was 868 AD.Among the extant engravings and printed materials in the world, there are clear date records There is nothing earlier than this, so although the engraving technique of this volume of the Diamond Sutra is very exquisite, it can be

It indirectly proves that before it was published, engraving technology must have gone through a certain period of experimental evolution; And other archaeologists have also unearthed some ancient ruins in Turpan, Xinjiang. Buddhist prints that may be older than this Diamond Sutra, but because there is no clear date on it, Therefore, we still have to believe that this volume of the Diamond Sutra published in the ninth year of Xiantong in the Tang Dynasty is the most existing one in China. Early engraved board books are also the earliest extant engraved board books in the world. Undoubtedly, before the publication of this volume of the Diamond Sutra, there were already engraved books in China, and there must be

It's been around for quite some time.Although we have not had the opportunity to see those objects again today, but in the past In the writings of human beings, clear evidence can be obtained from the text.I don't want to come here and try to determine When did the engraving of Chinese books begin, because it is impossible to determine.Cultural properties such as engraving and printing A thing must have been tested and reformed for a long time and many times, and it must itself contain the influence of other things. Its origin and growth must be very complicated, long and slow, and it will never happen overnight or suddenly.

Invented by a certain person on a certain day.Can we believe that Chinese characters were really created by Cangjie?I Can we believe that the Chinese papermaking method was really invented by the eunuch Cai Lun alone?Therefore, in order to verify the Chinese Who and when the engraving was invented is impossible, and the attempt will is a silly attempt. What I want to do now is to look at the earliest records of Chinese engraved books from the works of predecessors. What is the loading situation.Originally, there are generally three differences about the era when Chinese engraved books appeared.

One said that Feng Dao published the "Nine Classics" in the Five Dynasties, and the other said that it began with Liu Quan's "Family Instructions" and "Yi Jing". The Yizhou Moben in the late Tang Dynasty recorded in Jueliao Miscellaneous Notes and other books, another theory is earlier, saying that it began in the early Sui Dynasty.That In fact, these three different but coincidentally connected eras may actually be exactly the time when Chinese book engraving The process of growing up is just like what Hu Yinglin said in his "Shaoshi Shanfang Bi Tan":

"The carvings originated in the Sui Dynasty, traveled in the Tang Dynasty, expanded in the Five Dynasties, and were skilled in the Song Dynasty." The basis for the carvings to start in the Sui Dynasty is Lu Shen's "Hefen Yan Xianlu", which says: "Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty opened In December of the thirteenth year of the emperor's reign, the scriptures on the abandoned statues were ordered to be engraved." According to Sun Yuxiu's "Research on the Origin and Development of Chinese Carved Panels", it is believed that the carved panels originated in the Sui Dynasty.but leaves

Dehui's "Shu Lin Qing Hua" and American Thomas Carder's "History of the Origin and Development of Chinese Printing" (existing Liu Linsheng's Chinese translation) deny this.Carder's said that European books were recorded, and that Chinese engraving and printing began in the public domain. In the 593rd year of the Yuan Dynasty (that is, the 13th year of Emperor Kaihuang), "its fallacy is due to the misuse of Chinese reference books." Card Shi's words are based on "Shu Lin Qing Hua", according to Ye Shi's "Books Are Rigid The Beginning says:

"Recently, Shimada Han wrote "The Origin of Carved Boards" (one of the "Ancient Texts and Old Books" written by him), according to Yan His "Family Instructions" called Jiangnan books, saying that books are words, but they are for ink boards.According to Lu Shen's "Hefen "Yan Xianlu", citing the words of carving boards on December 8th, the thirteenth year of Kaihuang's reign in the Sui Dynasty. Prospered in the Six Dynasties.However, this language of Lu's is based on Sui Fei Changfang's "The Story of the Three Treasures".

To write means to re-carve the abandoned images, and to re-write the leftover scriptures.Ruan Wushan tea and other guests talked about it, and mistakenly used the statue as a carving board. And Shimada Han must want to Fu Huilu said, so he said that Lu Mingren, who found the old copy, must use carvings as engravings.don't think Sutras can be carved into panels, and waste images can also be carved into panels." Fei Changfang's "The Story of the Three Treasures" is "The Story of the Three Treasures of the Past Dynasties". Writing or engraving.However, according to the "Historical Buddha General Records", in the tenth year of Emperor Kaihuang, Emperor Wen issued an edict to restore religion, and visitors turned over Translated the Sanskrit scriptures, set up a translation hall, and built a large-scale Jialan, so there was an act of rectifying the abandoned scriptures. The original text of "The Story of the Three Treasures" If it is "engraved boards", engraving religious images is the inevitable origin of printed engraved boards, Ye Dehui was surprised "Waste statues can also be carved into boards", Gai did not know that besides sculptures, Buddha statues can also be carved into stone boards and wood. board to print.The oldest printed materials in China that have been discovered so far are almost all religious images, but they are very good evidence of. In addition, these few sentences in "The Story of the Three Treasures" quoted in "Hefen Yan Xianlu" are mostly in the "Imperial Order" The sentence of "abandoned image" is under the sentence, instead of reading it as "the scriptures of the abandoned image, and you have ordered the sculpture?" "("The origin and development of Chinese carving boards "Kao" and Zha Mengji's "History of Chinese Books" etc.) In this way, what should have been described here The word "waste" in the word has become a verb, which seems to be sorted out by Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty.This is really a mistake. Because since Emperor Wen of the Sui Dynasty issued an edict to restore religion, he would never "abolish the statue" again. As another basis for the existing carved panels in the Sui Dynasty, it was discovered in the Dunhuang stone chamber at the same time as the above-mentioned Diamond Sutra Another Buddhist scripture.Luo Zhenyu's "Dunhuang Stone Chamber Book Records" said: "The Yongdharani version of the Great Sui Dynasty On the above scripture, there is a group of benefactor Li Heshun on the left, and a group of carved panels by Wang Wenzhi on the right.Song Taiping Xingguo five years, turned Carved Sui version". Ye Dehui's "Shu Lin Qing Hua" also quoted this saying.The Yongdharani Sutra was originally stored in the British Museum in London. Judging by the facsimile copies (see Douglas McMurtley's Books—Stories of Printing and Making Books) (illustration on page 97 of "Things"), which is actually a single-page engraved mantra, neither a book nor a book. Non paper.The mantra is in Sanskrit, and it is a large circle in the center, surrounded by Buddha statues and lotus tripod decorations. In the upper corner, there are five characters "Benefactor Li Heshun", and in the upper left corner, there are five characters "Wang Wenzhi Carving Skills".round sanskrit mantra Below, there are twenty-one lines of text, within a rectangular frame, the former six characters "Da Sui Yongdharani", The sixteen lines in the middle explain the various merits and virtues obtained by receiving and holding this mantra. The last four lines say, "If someone accepts and holds offerings, It should be kept clean.On June 25th of the fifth year of Taiping Xingguo, the engraved board is written in hand." Accordingly, although this Dharani mantra engraved in the Song Dynasty is based on the Sui version, it does not indicate that it is "translated." Carving", we are not sure whether the original Sui scriptures are manuscripts or engravings, so Luo Zhenyu's "Returning Carvings" Sui Ben's conclusion is somewhat unreliable. As evidence of carved panels in the Sui Dynasty, the power of this mantra is not comparable to Fei Changfang's "Three Treasures" Those few sentences in "Records". Therefore, we can only assume that there were carved panels in the Sui Dynasty in China, using the to print Buddhist images or scriptures, but so far no relics or sufficient documentation have been found to confirm it. There was a problem with engraved books in the Tang Dynasty, since we have assumed that the Sui Dynasty had printed Buddhist images on engraved panels, In addition, there is already an engraved version of the Xiantong Nine Years Diamond Sutra found in Dunhuang, so it is not a problem at all.just don It has been 250 years since the founding of the country to the ninth year of Xiantong. In the long period of these two centuries and a half, it is inevitable that Many single-page image spells and even volumes of classics or other works have been printed with engravings, but we now have Except for this volume of the Diamond Sutra in the ninth year of Xiantong, no other earlier sculptures of the Tang Dynasty have been found. What a pity. Although the author of "Research on the Origin and Development of Chinese Carved Boards" said, "There is a Kaiyuan in the Yang family's possession in Jiangling. Miscellaneous newspaper Qiye, Yun is a Tang Dynasty carved book, with thirteen lines, fifteen characters in each line, the characters are as big as money, with borders and borders, But there is no middle seam, it is in the style of a Chinese manuscript, it is decorated as a butterfly, and the ink and shadows are scattered, it is not very discernible...", but We have not seen this thing, whether it really exists, and whether it is true or not, is questionable, so we I still have to think that the engraved version of the Diamond Sutra in the ninth year of Xiantong is the earliest engraved book in China that can be seen now. Other records related to carvings in the Tang Dynasty can be seen in the writings of the Song people, which were the only Chinese records in the past. The original source material of the carving board, but since the discovery of the Diamond Sutra on the carving board in Xiantong, these materials have become secondary up.Among these records, the most detailed one is that of Tang Liutang quoted by Ye Mengde in "Swallows in the Stone Forest". "Family Instructions" preface, its words: "Guimaoxia in the third year of Zhonghe, and the third year of Luanyu's stay in Shu, I gave a ten-day break to the people of Zhongshushe, and read books in Chong Southeast of the city.There are many miscellaneous records of yin and yang in his books, which account for the nine palaces and five latitudes of Meng Xiangzhai, and there are also calligraphy and primary schools, carved boards, The dyeing of printing paper is unknown." The third year of Zhonghe was 883 A.D., more than ten years after the ninth year of Xiantong.This is a previous work on The earliest record of engraving.This record makes us know that Sichuan is the first place in China to print books with engraving blocks. Fang, and what was printed were all practical technical books at that time.However, the previous literati did not pay much attention to this record. because it prints miscellaneous books rather than classics and history, but we know that culture and art are both origins Because of labor and practicality, after the engraving boards were available, the first printed books were religious books and practical books. The phenomenon. For another record about carvings from the Tang Dynasty, see Zhu Yi's "Miscellaneous Records of Yi Jue Liao".He said: "Carving and printing characters, there was no such thing before the Tang Dynasty. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, Yizhou began to have ink plates."Yizhou is Sichuan.he Although the date recorded is relatively late, it also proves that Sichuan is the first place in China to have carvings. Since Sichuan was the first place in China to print books on woodblocks, we can almost assume that Dunn Most of the engraved editions of the Diamond Sutra in the ninth year of Tang Xiantong discovered in the Huangshi Room were handed down from the mainland of China. It may have been brought from Sichuan, and it is by no means a local engraved copy, because the cultural situation in Northwest China at that time However, there is no block printing in Gansu. As for the saying that Chinese engraving boards began in the Five Dynasties, it was because Feng Daozou asked the Five Classics to be published, so the Chinese The beginning of engraving and printing books by state officials was mistaken for the beginning of engraving panels. The predecessors have already identified and corrected it, so there is no need to repeat it.