Chapter 27 1. The introduction of Western printing and the development of my country's book industry

After the Qing Dynasty experienced the prosperity of Kang, Yong and Qian, it gradually declined.Especially in the middle of the 19th century, due to the increasing corruption of the ruling class, official corruption became commonplace, and the military was slack, the country's power declined significantly.At this time, the West, especially the United Kingdom, embarked on the road of aggression to seek colonies after completing the industrial revolution.As China in the Far East, its rich resources naturally became the target of colonialist aggression. The Opium War from 1840 to 1842 ended with the surrender of the Qing government. This was a major turning point in the history of our country. The Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded China in 1900, and humiliating unequal treaties one after another gradually reduced China from a feudal society to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society.Profound changes in social, political and economic life will naturally have a profound impact on culture and academia.In the history of book development, it is manifested in the introduction and gradual popularization of western printing; the emergence of capitalist publishing industry, the change of book form and the emergence of new types of books - newspapers and magazines.

Printing was originally invented in my country, and after being spread abroad, it has been continuously reformed technically.In Western Europe, Gutenberg, a German, invented movable lead type and printing presses; in 1829, Scherau, a Frenchman, invented paper type, which led to the rapid development of European technology, and it was passed back to my country along with the capitalist aggression. Morrison, a British missionary, was the first to introduce type printing to my country.Morrison came to Macau in the twelfth year of Jiaqing (1807) to spread Christianity and try Chinese printing.By 1819, Morrison had printed the first Chinese version of the "Old and New Testaments" in the printing office set up in Malacca. This was the first book printed with Western movable type.

After the Opium War, Tyyol, a priest of the Church of London in Singapore, moved his "Hua Ying Academy" to Hong Kong, where he started printing with Chinese lead type and completed 1,845 characters.In the twenty-fourth year of Daoguang (1844), the American Presbyterian Church set up the "Hua Hua Bible Study Room" in Macau, using Taiyol's fonts, and continued to cast them for printing books.This kind of Chinese lead type is equivalent to the size of the current four-size character. Because it was manufactured in Hong Kong, it is called "Hong Kong character". In 1845, Huahua Bible Study moved to Ningbo and changed its name to "Meihua Library".Later, the Irishman Ginger Berry came to China and created the first electroplated Chinese character mold to cast lead type, and invented the division of characters into seven numbers.In the tenth year of Xianfeng (1860), the ingot typesetting frame was invented, which divided the characters into common, spare and rare, and arranged them according to the radicals of "Kangxi Dictionary", which greatly advanced the Chinese printing technology.However, the printing technology in this period was mainly for the church to print religious propaganda materials, which was of little significance to our country's cultural education.

In 1872, the British businessman Meicha founded Shenbao in Shanghai, which is the earliest daily newspaper in my country.It first adopted the hand-operated printing press and concurrently engaged in publishing.Subsequently, Shenchang Bookstore was established to operate separately.It used movable lead type to print many novels, notes and other books, called "Shenbaoguan Collected Treasures Series", with a total of more than 160 kinds. In 1884, in the name of the Book Collection Bureau, "Ancient and Modern Book Collection" was typeset printed in flat type, and then "Twenty-Four Histories" was typeset.These are the tomes of early typesetting.

At the same time, lithographic technology was also introduced into our country.In 1876, Tushanwan Printing Office in Xujiahui, Shanghai was the first to use a lithographic printing machine.It was first used to print religious propaganda materials. In 1879, Meicha, the owner of the Declaration Office, organized the "Dianshizhai Printing Bureau" to publish "Dianshizhai Pictorial" and reprint rare books of ancient books, making lithography an important force in the publishing industry. In 1881, Chinese merchants established two large-scale lithographic bookstores, Tongwen Bookstore and Baishishanfang Bookstore.When Tongwen Publishing House was first established, it purchased twelve lithography machines and employed 500 workers, which is quite large.The development of lithography along the two directions of photocopying ancient books and printing color pictures.Dianshizhai, Tongwen Publishing House, Baishishanfang, and Feiyingguan all photocopied many ancient books.The original book used is quite excellent, with clear printing, smart binding, easy to carry, and low price, so it is very popular among ordinary readers.The Hongwentang Wucai Bookstore was the earliest for color printing pictures, followed by the Chinese and Western Wucai Bookstore opened by the Chinese themselves in the eighth year of Guangxu (1882), and the Caiwen Bookstore and Chongwen Bookstore opened later.After the establishment of Wenming Bookstore, a color lithography department was set up in the 30th year of Guangxu (1904) to print color textbooks, pictures and maps.

With the adoption of western printing technology, our country's book system has also undergone changes.The early printed books still imitated the traditional form of engraved books.Its layout structure and format are exactly the same as engraved books, with complete columns, borders, and middle seams, double-leaf single-sided printing, and even the binding is still thread-bound.With the development of printing technology, the output of books increased, and its form also changed. Western-style binding and horizontal Chinese books began to appear. Western binding refers to paperback and hardcover book binding methods.The change in the form of book binding is related to the paper used for printing.The original soft paper made by hand has low output and high cost, which cannot meet the needs of mass production of books.With the introduction of foreign newsprint, books began to use newsprint, coated paper, etc., and books printed on both sides of a single page appeared, which changed the format and thread binding was no longer suitable.At that time, except for the engraved and printed books, which needed thread binding, all of them were changed to bags and backs.The so-called hardcover is to wrap the leather or cloth with thick paper, hot on the gold letter or print on the black letter.Instead of using thick paper, all kinds of book covers are printed on the cover as the back of the package. This is paperback.These two methods are still used today.

In the 20th year of Guangxu (1894) after the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, the publishing industry in the capitalist mode of operation developed further.By the beginning of the 20th century, Shanghai alone had more than forty new publishing companies.Among them, the Commercial Press founded in the 23rd year of Guangxu (1897) and Wenming Bookstore founded in the 28th year of Guangxu (1902) are the largest national enterprises. At the beginning of its establishment, the Commercial Press specialized in printing, mainly business cards, advertisements, bookkeeping, and account books for commercial supplies, so it was named "Commercial". After 1900 devoted to book publishing. In 1902, the Compilation Institute was established and began to compile textbooks for primary and secondary schools, normal schools, girls’ schools, etc., and edited political, legal, and other reference books and magazines. It became the largest private bookstore in my country at that time, and had a well-equipped, advanced technology printing house.Wenming Bookstore also had its own printing office, which was famous for printing maps and pictures at that time. After 1912, the China Book Company was merged into the Commercial Press, and Wenming Bookstore was merged into the Zhonghua Bookstore, which further expanded the printing power, making the Commercial Press and Zhonghua Bookstore the most important publishing and printing institutions at that time.

While the printing of books and periodicals is modernized, woodblock printing, as a traditional craft, still plays a role in the book publishing industry.The biggest impact was after the failure of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1864), the Qing government started from maintaining its own rule, in order to "educate" the people and prevent the people from rebelling, and established provincial official bookstores.At first, Zeng Guofan established Jinling Bookstore (later renamed Jiangnan Official Bookstore) in Nanjing to publish books and collections of ancient classics and history.Later, Chongwen Bookstore in Hubei, Sixian Bookstore in Hunan, and Guangya Bookstore in Guangdong were established.In addition to publishing books independently, these official bookstores also cooperated with each other. For example, Jiangnan, Huainan, Zhejiang, and Hubei bookstores once cooperated.After entering the Republic of China, the provincial official bookstores closed down one after another, and most of their collections and editions were handed over to the newly established provincial library for collection.

In short, from the second half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, engraving, lead type, and lithographic printing were used in combination, and lead printing gradually gained a dominant position, and my country's book printing technology entered a new era.