Chapter 3 Section 2 The Rise of Block Printing in the Late Tang Dynasty

The Tang Dynasty was a period of prosperity for my country's feudal society.It was established in 618 A.D., with Chang'an as its capital, and was destroyed in 907 A.D., which lasted nearly 300 years.Taking the "Anshi Rebellion" (755-763 A.D.) as the turning point, the Tang Dynasty can be divided into two periods: the early period is the period of the Tang Empire's prosperity; the latter period is the period of the Tang Empire's decline.The Tang Empire had a vast territory, developed economy, and splendid culture. On this basis, with the invention of woodblock printing, the printing industry rose rapidly in the late Tang Dynasty.

At that time, the places where books were printed had gradually spread throughout Shaanxi, Henan, Sichuan, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi, covering a vast area, and Chang'an and Chengdu were the centers of the book industry at that time. Folk bookstores have appeared in the East City of Chang’an City. For example, the almanac of Da Diao’s family seal and the medical books of Li Jiayin are very famous. Li Jiayin’s "Moxibustion Classic" is the earliest printed version of medical books. There is a book printing shop in Chengdu, which publishes many kinds of books, such as Fan Shangjia who printed the almanac. The almanac printed in 882 A.D. still has broken pages that have been handed down to this day. It is printed with "Fan Shangjia Calendar of Chengdu Prefecture, Xichuan, Jiannan" title.This almanac and the Dingyou almanac in the fourth year of Qianfu (877 A.D.), which is five years earlier than it, are the oldest engraved and printed almanacs in the world.Dingyou’s almanac lacks the beginning of the volume, without title, the upper part is the almanac, the lower part is the calendar note, and there are various charts used for superstition and divination, as well as portraits including the 12 zodiac signs. It was discovered in the Dunhuang Grottoes in 1900, but it is unknown where and who it is engraved.It is a pity that these two almanacs were stolen by Stein to London in 1907, and they are now stored in the British Museum in London, England.There is also the "Xichuan Guojia" engraved Buddhist scriptures. Today, the Beijing Library still has a fragment of the "Diamond Sutra" rewritten by an unknown old man at the end of the Tang Dynasty based on the "Xichuan Guojia True Printed Version". "Xichuan Guojia Authentic Printed Version" and "Diamond Sutra" in 2011, it can be seen that Guojia is an old bookstore with a long history in Chengdu, and it has been printing Buddhist scriptures from the end of Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties.Xichuan also publishes reference books for poetry creation—rhyme books and calligraphy books.In 865 A.D., when the Japanese monk Zong Rui returned to Japan from China, he brought with him the "Tang Yun" and "Jade Pian" engraved by Nishikawa, and 134 Buddhist scriptures.At that time, the content of the Chengdu block edition was much more extensive.According to an official named Liu Ji [pin frequency], in the preface of his "Liu's Family Instructions", he said in the third year of Tang Xizong Zhonghe (883 AD), he saw many printed copies in bookstores in Chengdu. Books include superstitious books such as yin and yang, miscellaneous notes, divining dreams, housekeeping, dictionaries, and reading materials for elementary school students.

It can be seen that the above-mentioned "Fan Shangjia", "Guojia" and "Bianjia of Longchifang" in Chengdu can be said to be the earliest bookstores in China as we know them now.In the late Tang Dynasty, the types of engraved and printed books in Chengdu bookstores have developed from calendars, Buddhist scriptures, and miscellaneous notes to a large number of engraved and printed books and rhyme books, and they have been exported to Japan. The book printing industry has been quite developed, and it has become an advanced area of ​​my country's book printing industry.

There is a printed copy of the Buddhist scripture "Pini Zang" in Jing'ai Temple in Luoyang, Henan Province, which may have been destroyed when Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty destroyed Buddhist temples across the country in 845 AD. The monk Huique of Jing'ai Temple re-printed the Buddhist scriptures, and the time was about 869 AD. .Sikong Tu, a writer at the time, also wrote a solicitation leaflet for him, "a total of 800 printed copies", which were used to solicit donations from the society. In addition, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, and Shaoxing, Zhejiang also have block printing.Yuan Zhen mentioned earlier was an official in Yuezhou (now Shaoxing).He said that in Yuezhou and Yangzhou, many people engraved his and Bai Juyi's poems and sold them in the market; some people even exchanged the printed copies of Bai Juyi's poetry anthology for wine and tea, and "it was everywhere"; some people even used their names to sell counterfeit works. , It is "helpless".At that time, private printing of almanacs among the people was very popular in Yangzhou and Suzhou.In the book "Tang Yulin", a miscellaneous history of notes written by people in the Northern Song Dynasty, it is recorded that during the Huangchao uprising at the end of the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Xizong fled to Sichuan, and the lower reaches of the Yangtze River could not get official almanacs, so the people there made their own The almanac was engraved and sold, but the person who printed and sold the almanac had a dispute because the size of each month was different (agricultural book, the 30th of a month is the big one, and the 29th is the small one), and they were arrested and sent to the government. The magistrate said to them: "It doesn't matter if you are doing business together for a day and a half!" So they dismissed them.This incident reflects the prevalence of folk printing and selling almanacs in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in the late Tang Dynasty.

Jiangxi also engraved books.At the end of the Tang Dynasty, there was a Jiangnan Xidao (Hongzhou where the government is located, now Nanchang City, Jiangxi) who observed the emissary Heganquan. He was very fascinated by the dragon and tiger pills made by Taoists, and believed that taking these pills could "immortality". Between 847 and 851 A.D., thousands of copies of the book "Liu Hong Zhuan", which emphasized the art of smelting, were engraved and printed, and they were given to fellow Taoists who liked alchemy inside and outside the capital. This is the earliest record of Taoist printing books.

In addition to the above-mentioned printed materials, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang Dynasty Kaiyuan (713-741 AD), the Tang government also published China’s earliest printed newspaper "Kaiyuan Miscellaneous News" in Chang'an. .Most of the content of this newspaper contains the emperor's personal words and deeds, such as: the emperor went hunting somewhere on a certain day; the emperor plowed the land on a certain day; News of official promotions.Most of its materials are collected from "Daily Notes" and "Shizheng Ji". "Daily note" is a record of the emperor's words and deeds, written by the official who accompanied the emperor in charge of recording. "Shizhengji" is a record of discussions between the emperor and his ministers on state affairs, usually written by the prime minister.After the mansion report was printed, it was distributed to the royal family and the officials of the frontier.This newspaper was issued in a small number, and very few have been handed down.At the end of the Tang Dynasty, a writer Sun Qiao (a student of Han Yu) once saw this newspaper. In his article "Reading Kaiyuan Miscellaneous News" written in 851 AD, he recorded part of the content of this newspaper and commented on it. The "Golden Age of Kaiyuan" reflected in the newspapers is nostalgic.In modern times, Sun Yuxiu, a scholar who studied engraving and printing, said in his book "A Study of the Origin and Development of Chinese Engraving": "Recently, the Yang family in Jiangling, Hubei has seven leaves of "Kaiyuan Miscellaneous News". Lines, 15 characters per line, the characters are as big as money, with borders and borders, but no middle seam, and its style is like a Tang Dynasty manuscript. It is made of butterflies, and the ink shadows are scattered, and it is hard to distinguish." This shows that "Kaiyuan Miscellaneous News" It did come out and has been handed down. It is the earliest printed newspaper in my country and the world.

When "Kaiyuan Miscellaneous News" was published, Europeans didn't know how to use and make paper, let alone printing.Europeans made their own paper in the 12th century, and woodblock printing did not appear until the end of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century. As for the first European newspaper published in Germany, it was already in 1609, which was later than "Kaiyuan Zabao". About 900 years, so British scholars called "Kaiyuan Miscellaneous News" "the world's first newspaper" in "Encyclopedia Britannica".This is another example that our country's splendid ancient culture is far ahead of other countries in the world.

To sum up, the area printed in the Tang Dynasty was quite large, and the content of printing was also quite extensive. Even the cards played by the scholar-bureaucrats when they treated guests to wine - "leaf grid" and the proof of tax payment for merchants - "printed paper" , also have printed matter.In the late Tang Dynasty, engraving and printing began to rise.