During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, after books were first engraved, publishers usually printed in red or blue, revised and corrected, which was equivalent to "proof" in modern publishing and printing, and then printed in ink. Lin Shu Hua Qing said: "There is only one color printed in blue, such as the fifteen volumes of Mozi by Huang Ji ... all of them are suspected to have printed samples from the beginning, so they can be corrected if they are taken, and the blue print is not an ordinary version."
Because blue print is the earliest print of a book after engraving, it is called "blueprint for initial printing". Later, the word "blueprint" in the sense of "documentary evidence" came from "blueprint for the first printing"
For important documents or reports officially published by the government or parliament, countries use different color covers according to their habits. The white ones are called white papers, the blue ones are called blue books (such as the British government), and there are also red books (such as the Spanish government), yellow books (such as the French government) and green books (such as the Italian government). White paper and blue book are the most used countries, especially the white paper has become an internationally recognized official document.
A white paper can be a book or an article. As an official document, the white paper represents the government's position, paying attention to clear facts, clear positions, standardized writing, concise words and no literary color. White papers can be series. For example, China's national defense white paper is published every two years from 1998. It may also be released in a specific environment. For example, in order to refute the western countries' attacks on China's human rights policy, China published several white papers on the human rights situation in China.
In addition, some official annual reports, materials or summaries were not published in the form of white papers, and were later renamed as white papers to show authority and expand influence. For example, the book China Diplomacy, which was edited by the Policy Research Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and introduced China's diplomatic work and foreign relations in the past year, was originally named "An Overview of China's Diplomacy" and later renamed "China Diplomacy". Since 2004, it is commensurate with the white paper.
Noble name
The countries that use the little red book mainly include Spain, Austria, Britain, the United States, Turkey and the former Soviet Union. Some are used for official documents, and some are used for unofficial documents. Spain published the Gibraltar Red Book in 1965 and 1968 (English version). Britain had a financial red book as early as 13 century.
In addition, some international organizations also use red books, such as the International Telecommunication Union Red Book. Of course, the most famous "little red book" with the largest circulation is the "Quotations from Chairman Mao"-"little red book" in the 1960s and 1970s.