Chapter 6 Section 5 The Shrinkage of Block Printing in the Yuan Dynasty

In 1206, Genghis Khan established the Mongolian regime. In 1260, Kublai Khan inherited the throne of Khan. Afterwards, he established his capital in Dadu (now Beijing). In 1271, the name of the country was changed to Yuan. The rulers of the Yuan Dynasty implemented a policy of ethnic oppression, and the status of intellectuals was very low, in the situation of "nine Confucians and ten beggars".In order to strengthen the guard against intellectuals, the publication of works is strictly restricted. The history books say: "Books engraved by the people of Yuan Dynasty must be read by the Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China. It is reviewed by the highest administrative organ in the country, and then issued to the affiliated institutions for engraving, mainly by assigning local governments to print.When a personal work needs to be printed, the local gentry first sends the manuscript to the academic envoy for review. If the academic envoy thinks it can be printed, it must be reported to the Ministry for approval before publication.This unprecedented system of reviewing books at various levels has caused countless valuable works to lose their chances of publication; coupled with the destruction of production, the output of paper and ink is not much, which makes the printing industry show a tendency to shrink.

In the Yuan Dynasty, there were also official engravings, family engravings and workshop engravings.Book engraving locations include Dadu, Pingyang, Hangzhou, Jianning, Turpan and other places. For the official engravings of the Yuan Dynasty, there were Xingwen Office, Guangcheng Bureau, Guozijian, Taiyuan Hospital, etc. in the central government, but there were not many engraved books.Among them, Xingwenshu's engraved books are the most famous, and their engraved editions are also the earliest, such as "Yinzhu Zizhi Tongjian" and "Tongjian Shiwen Discrimination" engraved in 1290 by the historian Hu Sanxing during the Song and Yuan Dynasties; engraved in 1309 by the historian of the Southern Song Dynasty Zheng Qiao's biographical history book "Tong Zhi".Most of the local engraved books are Confucianism established by governments at all levels, and many classics and historical classics have been engraved, such as 11 kinds of scriptures engraved by Confucianism on Jiangxi Road (where the government is located in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province); The nine historical books engraved by Lu Fen are all relatively famous.Others such as "Da Dai Li Ji Zhu" written by Lu Bian of the Northern Zhou Dynasty, which was engraved with Confucianism on Jiaxing Road (where the government is now Jiaxing, Zhejiang) in 1227; "Wuyue Chunqiu Phonetic Notes" are all engraved with great precision.Another example is the "Yuhai" compiled by Wang Yinglin of the Song Dynasty, which was engraved on Qingyuan Road (where the government is located in Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province) in 1340 AD, with a total of 204 volumes, which is especially praised by the world.The book is divided into 21 categories, such as astronomy, geography, official system, food, etc., and more than 240 categories. "Summary of the General Catalog of the Book" commented that the book "runs through Aobo, and there is no one in the Tang and Song Dynasties that can surpass it."The version of this book was still stored in the Nanjing Domain Office until the Qing Dynasty, and it was still being repaired and reprinted. Because it went through the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, it is known as the "Three Dynasties Version".Today, Beijing Library has 42 volumes of Yuan block editions.In the Yuan Dynasty, there were 27 Confucianism engraved books.But the ones with the most engraved books are the academies in various places.According to the academic notes written by Gu Yanwu, a scholar of the Qing Dynasty: "The engraved books of the Song and Yuan Dynasties are all in the academy, and the head of the mountain (that is, the principal, mostly a famous scholar) presides over them. Therefore, there are three good things in the history of the academy: if the mountain is long and has nothing to do, he will be diligent in the school, one is; he will spare no expense and work hard, the second is; the edition is not reserved for officials, but it is easy to print, and the third is.” Because the academy has these advantages. conditions, so the engraved books are many and good, and are deeply loved by readers.Coupled with the engraved book "not based on pictures [yu education]", it is even more refined.In the Yuan Dynasty, there were more than 100 academies across the country, among which the West Lake Academy in Hangzhou was the most famous. Therefore, the three histories of Song, Liao, and Jin Dynasties and other important books were sent to West Lake Academy for publication by order.For example, in 1324 A.D., the Academy engraved the "Wen Tong Kao" (an important work describing the laws and regulations of the past dynasties) written by Ma Duanlin, a historian in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty. representative work.West Lake Academy has income from the school field and sufficient funds. It once repaired the book editions of the Guozijian in the Song Dynasty, with a total of about 120 kinds, which was the largest project of the academy.

Zhu Xi, a great philosopher and great educator in the Southern Song Dynasty, once built a bamboo forest jingshe outside Jianyang City, and later changed its name to Kaoting Academy. This academy has more than 500 acres of school fields. Zhu Xi’s third grandson, Zhu Yi, served as the head of the academy in the late Southern Song Dynasty .The students of this academy edited and edited the legal work "Tang Law Shuyi" from the Yuan Dynasty to the Zhengzheng period (1341-1368 AD), which was engraved and printed by Qinyoutang Publishing House.At that time, the atmosphere of lectures was very popular. Some teachers and students in the academy edited and printed their own books, and some edited books for the bookstore. Therefore, the academy in the Yuan Dynasty made great contributions to the development of book engraving and cultural education.

Officially engraved books, because they are funded by the government, most of them spare no expense, and use skilled craftsmen and high-quality paper and ink, so the engraving is generally excellent. The most famous private engraving of books is the Yue family in Yixing, Jiangsu (formerly known as Xing, renamed Yixing because of avoiding Zhao Kuangyi's taboo in Song Dynasty). through".There are also "Zhongzhou Yuefu" carved by the Cao family in Pingshui (now Linfen, Shanxi) in 1310.Ding Sijing, Dongping, Shandong, engraved in 1304 the collection of poems and essays of the Northern Song Dynasty essayist Zeng Gong "Yuanfeng Leigao" (named because it was compiled in the Yuanfeng period of Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty), and Ye Dehui's "Shu Lin Qing Hua" called the book "calligraphy". The hands of 椠 [qian owed] are extremely ancient and elegant, the hemp paper is rich in ink, and the imitation and printing are exquisite, which is the best engraving in Yuan Dynasty." Wang Jingwengong (Wang Anshi) Poem Notes carved by Wang Chang in Ji'an, Jiangxi in 1301, etc.There are copies of these books today.The collation of private engraved books is very serious, and they are often written by celebrities and engraved by master engravers, so many of them are high-quality goods.Some books were written and published by the author himself, such as "Five Fu Diagrams" inscribed by Gong Duanli of Zuizui Li (now in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province) in 1322.In his preface, he said: "Never give up on old age, write fine words at night, from beginning to end, all out of a sum, use up your shame, and use it to fund the expenses of Zi [Qin bedroom]." This is what the author wrote in his own handwriting. The engraved version is very exquisite.

There were as many bookstores in the Yuan Dynasty as in the Song Dynasty.There are 42 recorded bookstores in Jian'an and Jianyang counties on Jianning Road, Fujian Province.Among them, Yu Zhian’s Qinyoutang, Liu Jinwen’s Rixintang, Ye Rizeng’s Guangqintang and Yu Pingzhai’s Wubentang are all famous bookstores with a long history, and many books have been engraved.The first two each engraved nearly 20 kinds of works.Qin Youtang engraved the "Guo Dynasty (Yuan) Famous Officials" written by Su Tianjue, a writer and historian of the Yuan Dynasty, which preserved a large number of historical documents of the Yuan Dynasty.Rixintang engraved and printed the collection of poems "Bosheng Poetry Continuation" by Yu Ji (word Bosheng), a scholar of the Yuan Dynasty. This book is engraved in running script, which is unique.Guangqintang is good at engraving medical books, such as engraving the monograph on pulse study written by Wang Shuhe, a medical scientist in the Wei and Jin Dynasties of our country.For the first time, the book divides pulse conditions into 24 types, basically including all the phenomena in circulation physiology, and is the earliest monograph on pulse science in existence.In 1341, Wuben Hall engraved the collection of poems "Zhao Zi'ang Poetry Collection" by Zhao Mengfu (fu Fu), a famous calligrapher and painter of the Yuan Dynasty.These books also have copies today.There are hundreds of kinds of books carved in Jianning Bookstore.

In addition, Dou Guifang's Huojitang in Yanshan was also good at engraving medical books, such as the "Four Books of Acupuncture and Moxibustion" compiled by himself in 1312.The Huimingxuan of the Zhang family in Pingyang, Shanxi Province and the Zhonghexuan of the Wang family are both old bookstores of the Jin and Yuan dynasties. He wrote the dictionary "Yun Lue" and other books for writing rhymes.Hangzhou Bookstore engraved and printed seven kinds of opera works, including "Guan Dawang's Single Swords Club" by Guan Hanqing, a great playwright of the Yuan Dynasty, "Yuchi Gong's Three Wins of the Sword" by Shang Zhongxian, and "Li Taibai's Demotion to Yelang" by Wang Bocheng, and there are many copies today. .

The books engraved by these bookstores are large in quantity and widely circulated, which have played a significant role in the spread of culture.However, the most printed books in the bookstore are still literary works such as dramas and novels, imperial examination examination books and medical books, etc., and not many classic historical books and rare books of scholars are printed.Because the former type of books is suitable for the needs of general intellectuals and ordinary people, there are few official and private engravings, so this type of books sells quickly in the market and makes a lot of money, so various bookstores engrave them one after another.It’s just that many bookstores aim at profit and only seek quick results. The carvings are rough, the collation is not precise, the writing is not standardized, and there are many shoddy ones. This is almost a common problem in ordinary bookstores.

The Yuan Dynasty also continued to engrave Buddhist and Taoist classics, and the largest printing project was the engraving and printing of the Buddhist Tripitaka.For example, the "Tripitaka" engraved by the Dapuning Temple in Yuhang County, Hangzhou Road, about 1277-1290 AD, has a total of 6004 volumes, known as "Puning Cang".The engraving is exquisite and meticulous, and the binding is simple and elegant.Yansheng Temple (later renamed Qisha Temple) in Qisha (qi abandoned) Sha (in today's Wuxian County, Jiangsu Province) in Pingjiang Prefecture, Jiangsu Province, was built around Baoqing (1225-1227 AD) or Shaoding (1228-1233 AD) of Emperor Lizong of the Southern Song Dynasty. It was carved in 1999 and completed in the second year of Emperor Yingzong Zhizhi (AD 1322). After about 90 years in the Song and Yuan dynasties, 1,532 volumes and 6,362 volumes were collected. It is known as "The Tripitaka of Qisha Yanshengyuan, Pingjiang Fu". , referred to as "Qisha Zang" (Figure 8).Most of these Buddhist scriptures are engraved and printed by the monastery. At the end of 1982, 32 volumes of the official "Tripitaka" inscribed in the Yuan Dynasty were discovered in Yunnan. It is estimated that there are at least 6,500 volumes in the collection, second only to "Zhaocheng Collection" (now stored in the Yunnan Provincial Library). This discovery filled the past. Buddhists believe that there is no official engraved scripture in the Yuan Dynasty.In addition, in Turpan, Xinjiang, engraved Buddhist scriptures in six languages ​​including Chinese, Mongolian, Tibetan, Xixia, Uighur, and Sanskrit have been found, which shows the prevalence of engraved Buddhist scriptures in the Yuan Dynasty.As for the Taoist classics, before Kublai Khan established the Yuan Dynasty, 7,800 volumes of "Tao Zang" were engraved in Mongolia in 1244. Because they were carved in Xuandu Temple in Pingyang, Shanxi, it is also called "Xuandu Treasure".Later, because Taoism failed in the struggle against Buddhism, except in 1281 Yuan Shizu ordered that all other Taoist scriptures and printing plates of Taoist scriptures be burned.For a while, most of the printed versions of Taoist scriptures inside and outside the capital were reduced to ashes, and "Xuandu Treasure" did not escape this fate.Since then, many Taoist scriptures have been lost, and the influence of Taoism has also collapsed.

In the Yuan Dynasty, a large number of banknotes were printed, but due to the large amount of issuance, inflation was caused, and they were finally rejected for use. There are about 600 or 700 printed editions of the Yuan Dynasty that have been handed down to the present, but there are only more than 270 copies in 17 libraries including the Beijing Library, 230 copies in Taiwan, and others are scattered elsewhere. Throughout the Yuan Dynasty, although the printing industry inherited the traditions of the Song and Jin Dynasties, many books were engraved, and some Yuan edition books were even better than the Song edition, such as "The Analects of Analects" published by Liang Zhai in Pingyang; Guo Puyin Annotation"; Ye Zeng Nanfu Shutang engraved edition "Dongpo Yuefu", etc., are all inferior to the Song edition.The Biography of Lie Nu Biography of the Yuan Dynasty engraved in Hangzhou has beautiful and neat pictures, which is of high value in the history of Chinese engraving art.But generally speaking, the number of publications in the Yuan Dynasty was far less than that of the Song Dynasty, and the quality was not as exquisite as that of the Song Dynasty. The production of paper and ink was not as good as that of the Song and Jin Dynasties.Therefore, compared with the Song Dynasty, the printing industry was in a period of shrinkage, but there were also innovations, such as the invention of two-color overprinting with ink and ink, and the appearance of the title page (cover) of books, all of which were pioneering works in the history of printing.

In the Yuan Dynasty, color printing (commonly known as "block printing") was originally a two-color printing of ink and ink, which was developed from the two-color manuscripts of ink and ink in the past. It appeared to make books use different colors to distinguish the different functions of the content.The method is to use a plate to print twice.For example, the main text is printed in black, the eyebrows are printed in red, and the interline comments, annotations or comments are printed in red. When printing, the reprinted frame must be closely matched, so it is technically better than simple one-color printing. Much more complicated.The earliest overprint that has been handed down to the present is the "Diamond Sutra Notes" annotated by Wuwen monk at Zifu Temple on Zhongxing Road (where the government is located in Jiangling, Hubei Province) from the end of Yuan Dynasty to the first year of Zhengyuan (1341 AD).On the title page of the frontispiece, an old monk is sitting beside a desk under a pine tree, preaching scriptures, there is a servant boy, and there is another person standing beside the table. A few branches of Ganoderma lucidum grow on the ground in front of the table, and there are clouds flying around in the sky.The pine trees in the painting are in black, and the others are in red.The scriptures and annotations are also overprinted in two colors of red and ink, that is, the large characters of the scriptures are in red, and the small characters of the annotations are in black.This "Diamond Sutra Notes" was collected in the Nanjing Library before liberation, and is preserved in Taiwan today.The invention of woodblock overprinting technology is a major event in the history of printing, and it marks a big step forward in printing technology.Chen Jiru, a litterateur and painter in the Ming Dynasty, when commenting on printing, once referred to woodblock printing, movable type printing, and register printing as the three changes in the history of printing, which shows the great significance.In the past, woodblock printing or movable type printing used monochromatic white paper and black characters. So far, two-color printing has been produced, and the vermilion and ink are distinct and clear at a glance. It's just that this new invention was not widely used at that time and in the next 100 to 200 years. It was not until the late Ming Dynasty that it became popular again.

Books before the Yuan Dynasty did not have a title page, like the Song version, at most, the title was signed at the end of each volume, or the abbreviation of the title was engraved on the center of the version, and there was no cover.The title page did not appear until the end of the 13th century.During the reign of Emperor Yingzong of Yuan Dynasty (1321-1323 A.D.), the Yu family in Jian'an published five kinds of Pinghua, including "Book of King Wu's Conquest of Zhou", "Qin Bing Liuguo", and "Three Kingdoms". These books have covers with pictures, such as On the entire cover of "Three Kingdoms", there is a horizontal batch of "Jian'an Yushi New Issue" printed on the top, a picture of "Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage" below it, and the title of "New Quanxiang Three Kingdoms Pinghua" below it, eight extra-large characters in double lines The typography is very eye-catching, with the words "Zhizhi Xinban" in the middle, and the font is small, indicating the time when the book was printed.The title of the book is marked with "New Quanxiang", which refers to the newly added pictures of characters for the purpose of attracting people (Figure 9).The book is divided into upper and lower columns, with pictures above and below. It is fascinating to read through the scroll.The title page of an ordinary book does not have a picture, like "Guang Yun" engraved by Liu Junzuo's "Cuiyan Jingshe" in 1356 AD. On the cover, there are only eight large characters "New Magazine Footnote Edition Guang Yun" printed in double lines.It is marked with "Correction is correct", and on both sides is printed "The five-tone and four-tone cut rhyme map is detailed, and it is printed in Zhengbingshen Zhongxia Xiuzi" (Fig. 10).Without pictures.The title of the book "Mingben" means that the publisher reprinted it based on the Mingzhou (now Ningbo, Zhejiang) edition.The book was rewritten by Chen Pengnian and others in the Song Dynasty, and it is an important rhyme book in Chinese phonology.There is an official edition with complete annotations; there is a square edition with brief annotations. The appearance of the title page brings great convenience to readers, and it is another great progress in the history of printing.

---

Notes: