Chapter 18 Section 1 The Popularization of Block Printing and the Invention of Movable Type Printing

The Song and Yuan dynasties were extremely important periods in the history of book collection in my country.Printed editions of the Song and Yuan Dynasties have always been cherished by bibliophiles.Because its time is relatively old, the collation is relatively detailed, and the binding is exquisite. At the beginning of the founding of the Northern Song Dynasty, Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin ordered Dou Yi and others to revise the Later Zhou "Xing Tong" in the fourth year of Jianlong (963 A.D.) and promulgate it. The beginning of the book.In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the imperial court organized the compilation of three large-scale books of 1,000 volumes each, "Taiping Yulan", "Cefu Yuangui", and "Wenyuan Yinghua", and compiled "Taiping Guangji" with 500 volumes. Success and printing have pushed printing to a new peak.The engraved editions of the Song Dynasty came from different channels, including official engravings, private engravings and workshop engravings.Official engraving refers to government engraved books, including those engraved by the central courts, supervisors, and local provinces, prefectures, prefectures, and counties.Private engraving refers to books that are paid for by private individuals. These books are generally edited by others and are of high quality.Fang Ke refers to the engraved books of general booksellers.The engraved books in the Song Dynasty were centered in Kaifeng, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Jianyang (now Jianyang, Fujian) and other places, and spread all over the country.The scope of engraved books includes classics, histories, zi, anthology, examination books, daily books, etc.Song Taizu Zhao Kuangyin started engraving the entire Chinese Tripitaka in Chengdu in the fourth year of Kaibao (971 AD), and it was completed in the eighth year of Taiping Xingguo (983 AD) by Song Taizong Zhao Jiong (983 AD), which lasted 12 years.There are a total of 130,000 editions, 5,048 volumes, and 480 letters. Because it was carved in the Kaibao period, it is called "Kaibaozang". This is the first Buddhist collection printed in the world.After that, during the Zhenghe period of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty (1111-1118 A.D.), the collection of Taoism in my country——"Wan Shou Dao Zang" was engraved and printed for the first time.

Although engraving printing has incomparable advantages over traditional manuscript books, engraving is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the plates are heavy and inconvenient to store. Therefore, movable type printing appeared during the Qingli period of Emperor Renzong of Song Dynasty (1041-1048 A.D.).Shen Kuo's "Mengxi Bi Tan · Skill Gate" records: Printed books were not yet popular in the Tang Dynasty. Since King Feng Ying began to print the "Five Classics", all the classics of later generations have been editions.In the Qing calendar, Bi Sheng, a commoner, is also a letterpress.The method is to engrave characters with clay, which is as thin as the lips of money.Every word is a seal, and the fire makes it strong.Let's set up an iron plate first...it is densely covered with characters printed on the iron plate as a plate, and it will be held on fire.When the medicine is slightly melted, press the surface with a flat plate, and the characters will be as flat as a whetstone.If you only print three or two copies, it is not easy, but if you print tens, hundreds, or thousands of copies, it will be extremely fast.Two iron plates are often made, one plate is printed, and the first plate has been printed by itself. After this printing is completed, the second plate is ready, and it is more interoperable.

This is the earliest movable type printing, about 400 years earlier than Germany Gutenberg (JG Gutenberg AD 1394?-1468) used lead type around 1450.Wang Zhen (1295-1300 A.D.) of the Yuan Dynasty made wooden movable type based on Bi Shengni movable type, and printed "Jingde County Chronicle" in the second year of Dade (1298 A.D.).In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a large number of books were printed with copper movable type or wooden movable type.