Chapter 14 Section 2 Printing was introduced to Europe, Africa and America

There are many factors for the introduction of Chinese printing to Europe: First, the Yuan Empire, which rose in the 13th century, spanned Europe and Asia, with a vast territory and a powerful country, which provided convenient conditions for personnel exchanges between the East and the West; second, the Yuan Empire issued by the Yuan Dynasty Banknotes have reached the level of "innumerable records printed every day" and are widely circulated, which also promotes the spread of printing.The first Chinese printed matter that Europeans saw was the banknotes of the Yuan Dynasty; moreover, Chinese culture at that time was still admired by Europeans, so Europeans came here one after another with travelers, businessmen and missions. Both Hangzhou and Hangzhou were world-renowned international metropolises at that time.For example, the French missionary William Ruysbroeck (William Ruysbroeck) was sent to China by the order of the King of France between 1253 and 1254. After returning, he reported to Europe the situation of Chinese people using banknotes for commercial trade. He was the first to report Europeans using paper money in China.The Italian traveler Marco Polo came to China when Emperor Shizu of the Yuan Dynasty lived there for more than ten years. When he returned home, he took the banknotes with him. In his "Travel Notes", he recorded the banknotes of the Yuan Dynasty in great detail. This has an enlightening effect on the emergence of European printing; at the same time, the Crusades that occurred in the 12th and 13th centuries also brought about unprecedented contacts between countries in Europe and Asia. Printed materials such as playing cards and engravings also had an impact on the production of European printing.In this case, Chinese printing was introduced to Europe.

At the end of the 14th century and the beginning of the 15th century, woodblock printing cards, religious paintings, religious books and Latin grammar textbooks for primary school students began to appear in Europe. The playing cards were one of the earliest prints in Europe.The earliest surviving European print is the woodblock print of "Statue of Saint Christopher" printed in 1423, which was printed in southern Germany, and its printing method is exactly the same as that of Chinese woodblock printing.At this time, Venice, Italy was also the center of printed portraits, and its printed playing cards were very popular.By the mid-15th century, block printing was quite common in Europe.At the same time, between 1440 and 1448, German Gutenberg invented movable lead type printing, which was 400 years later than Bi Sheng's clay movable type.Although there is not much difference between the two in the principle of movable type printing, the movable type material used by Gutenberg is an alloy of lead, zinc and antimony, which is easier to shape than the previous wooden movable type and copper movable type, and is suitable for printing. The composition of the movable type has not changed much after 500 years. In the casting process, the type box and the copper type mold are used to make the specification of the movable type easy to control and facilitate mass production, which is better than that of China and North Korea at that time. The foundry method used in casting movable type is much more advanced.He also pioneered aliphatic inks to replace water-based inks, which greatly improved the quality of printing, and aliphatic inks have also been used in later modern printing techniques.The spiral wooden printing press he invented improved the operation of printing and has been used in countries all over the world for more than 400 years.Gutenberg's set of innovative technologies for movable type printing laid the foundation of modern printing. Therefore, Gutenberg's achievements are always worthy of commemoration.Shortly after Gutenberg invented movable lead type, movable type printing quickly became popular in various European countries. In Venice alone, at the end of the 15th century, there were about 100 newly established movable type printing houses, and about 2 million books were published. .Whether this invention of Gutenberg was directly influenced by Chinese movable type printing, some Western historians believe that Western movable type printing was passed down from China; but some scholars believe that there is still a lack of reliable evidence, but it can be said with certainty that There is no doubt that European printing arose under the influence of Chinese printing.

Chinese printing also influenced Egypt. At the end of the 19th century, 50 woodblock prints were found in the ruins of an ancient Egyptian city, all of which were Islamic prayers, spells and incomplete pages printed in ancient Arabic characters. It is said that they were printed between 900 and 1350 AD. It is very similar to the Chinese printing method.Therefore, some scholars believe that it may be that after the Mongolian army spread the printing technique to the Arab countries, in the early 14th century, travelers and merchants brought the printing technique to Egypt.In this way, Chinese printing was spread to Africa.

Since then, Chinese printing has also been introduced to the United States, Canada and Australia. Chinese printing has spread and influenced the whole world. Printing has been called the "mother of civilization".Its wide dissemination has laid a reliable foundation for the publication of a large number of books in countries all over the world, and provided favorable conditions for all mankind to enjoy cultural life. It has also had a positive impact, which is a remarkable contribution made by the Chinese people to world civilization. Today, the printing technology of countries all over the world is changing with each passing day, advancing by leaps and bounds, and marching towards modernization.Every morning, people can read all kinds of newspapers and magazines on time, and the reading materials in the bookstore are colorful, exquisite and lovely!Dear readers, when you pick up a book that you can't put it down, read it with relish, and feel infinite happiness when you immerse yourself in the world of books, how will you feel?