In the middle of Kangxi period, a book restoration institute was established in Wuyingdian Hall, which became the largest editing, publishing and printing center in the world at that time. As long as Wudi's books are exquisite regardless of cost, many ancient books and even the famous "Dream of Red Mansions" were published here. The book published here is called "Five English Dianben", or "Dianben" for short.
Although wooden movable type and copper movable type were popular at that time, in order to pursue a realistic antique effect, engraving technology was widely used. That version was made of jujube wood or catalpa wood through evaporation and dehydration process, and the price was very high. expensive. After the book is published, the woodcuts will be collected. Over the years, the rooms around the main hall were obviously covered with hall boards, the emperor often sent officials to inspect, and the treasury gates were sealed tightly.
After Xianfeng, there was a lot of fuss about building gardens and launching Westernization, and Wuying Palace gradually fell into ruins. There is an archive room in the martial arts hall, and a group of literati take turns on duty day and night to record important events in the palace at any time. In the winter when coal was scarce, the officials in the archives shivered with cold. Unexpectedly, I pried open the door of the library, took out the temple tablets, chopped the stove, and gave it to a private engraving shop. I switched to soju, and everyone drank soju around the stove!
By chance, Zhang Zhidong, who was working in the Hanlin Academy at the time, came to Wuyingtang. Seeing such a precious palace edition, he was busy drafting a memorial saying that the palace edition should not be discarded and the ancient books should be reprinted according to their ability. When a friend heard that he was being invited, he went to his house overnight to persuade him, "Should we open a prison?" The tablets in the temple have been scattered. No one knows how many crowns and heads will fall. Can you afford to offend this person? Zhang Zhidong lowered his head and thought for a long time, then looked up to the sky and sighed, and had to give up.