The economy and culture of the Song Dynasty were developed, handicrafts and commerce were unprecedentedly prosperous, and ancient science and technology were highly developed. The compass, one of the four great inventions, is widely used in navigation. Gunpowder is used in large quantities to make firearms and weapons. Agricultural sciences, mathematics, astronomy, medicine, architecture and metallurgy have all made brilliant achievements.
The high development of handicraft industry, commerce and science and technology is reflected in the publishing industry, which is the increase in the types of works, the expansion of the scope of publishing, the exquisite binding design and the development of printing technology. In particular, the rapid development of printing and papermaking in the Song Dynasty provided a solid material foundation for the prosperity of the publishing industry. 1. The prosperous publishing industry and developed culture in the Song Dynasty
Block printing was invented in the late Sui and early Tang Dynasties, gradually became popular in the late Tang Dynasty, and developed rapidly in the Song Dynasty. Especially in the Song Dynasty, Bi Sheng invented movable type printing. Technology has greatly promoted the development of publishing industry.
In the Song Dynasty, the printing industry was the most developed in Henan, Sichuan, Fujian and Zhejiang. Bianliang (Kaifeng) in Henan Province was the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty. It was known as the prosperous city where eight wastelands were combined and all nations were connected. It was the center of the country's book engraving industry. Lin'an (Hangzhou) in Zhejiang Province was the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty. It became the center of the national printing industry in the Northern Song Dynasty. Almost half of the printing presses were published in Hangzhou. At that time, engraving workers gathered in Hangzhou and engraved classics, history books, Confucian books, medical books, arithmetic, and collected works. The Zhejiang version has square fonts, rounded knife skills, and a very high level of engraving technology.
In the early Song Dynasty, the most arduous engraving project was the fourth year of Emperor Taizu's founding of the Song Dynasty (AD 971). The entire Tripitaka was carved in Chengdu, totaling 1,076 volumes and 5,040 volumes. Eight volumes. It took twelve years to complete the engraving and printing, and the engraving cost 130,000 yuan. It was the first big book to be engraved in the history of our country.
In addition, the woodblock printing industry in Wuzhou, Zhejiang and Suzhou, Jiangsu is also famous. According to the "Outline of Chinese History": The woodblock printing industry in Wuzhou and Suzhou was also very prosperous. Engravers are often hired out of town to engrave books. ?In the second year of Shaoxing of Emperor Gaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty (AD 1132), Wang Yongcong published 5,400 volumes of Buddhist scriptures in Huzhou. They were completed within one year, which shows the large number of carvers and the proficiency of their skills. At that time, a group of famous carvers appeared, and Jiang Hui was one of the most famous carvers at that time. For some books, there were even female engravers involved in engraving and engraving characters, such as Li Shiniang, Xie, Xu, etc. This shows the prosperity of the publishing industry and the development of culture at that time. 2. The developed papermaking industry in the Song Dynasty promoted the development of the printing industry
The center of the book engraving industry in the Song Dynasty was a place where the economy was relatively prosperous, the culture was relatively developed, and the output of paper was relatively large. The papermaking industry in the Song Dynasty experienced widespread development. The paper used in books at that time generally reached the level of thin, soft, light, tough, and fine. This created favorable conditions for the improvement of book printing technology. The exquisite paper of the Song Dynasty was often presented as tribute to the imperial court.
According to the "History of the Song Dynasty? Geography", the tributes and tribute papers from various places in the Song Dynasty include Zhenzhou on Huainan Road, Chizhou and Huizhou on Jiangnan Road, Wuzhou and Quzhou on Liangzhe Road, Chengdu There are eight places including Chengdu Prefecture on the road. In the Tang Dynasty, only two places were donated in Wuzhou and Quzhou. This shows that the quality and quantity of paper produced in the Song Dynasty was far superior to that of previous generations. The mutual promotion of the printing industry and the papermaking industry shows the prosperity of the publishing industry in the Song Dynasty.
The Song version of the book has excellent engraving skills and exquisite binding. It is highly valued by bibliophiles and is recognized as a rare book throughout the world. The main reasons why it is cherished are: first, the Song version of the book is closest to the original; second, the engraving art of the Song version of the book is a model for later generations and has a great influence on the form of books in later generations. 3. Improvement and development in the form of book binding in the Song Dynasty
Book binding in the Song Dynasty has transitioned from the scroll form to the leaf form bound in loose leaves. In the Northern Song Dynasty, the original form of leaf album was "butterfly decoration".
Butterfly binding is a binding form in which the printed side is folded relative to each other, and the middle seam of the book leaf is glued to a piece of backing paper. When the book needs to be unfolded for reading, the half leaves on both sides resemble two wings of a butterfly, hence the name "butterfly dress". The advantage is that large pictures can maintain the integrity of the picture without the phenomenon of broken pages. Its disadvantages are: it is inconvenient to read. After reading one leaf of the book, the text on the leaf faces inward, so you must turn it over twice before you can read the text on the lower leaf. Moreover, the text on the front is made of a single layer of thin paper, which is easy to stick to. In this way, in the Southern Song Dynasty, the folding method of folding the book leaves with the text outwards and the back facing each other appeared. This was called "back-packing". After printing became mechanized, the binding forms of books reappeared in today's paperback and hardcover.
The butterfly packaging and back-packing used in the Song Dynasty were in the form of leaf volumes. Today's paperback and hardcover books are also in the form of leaf volumes. It is an improvement and development in the book binding form of the Song Dynasty, which makes this leaf form still in use today. This shows that the book form of the Song Dynasty had a profound impact on later generations. 4. The number of books published in the Song Dynasty exceeded that of previous dynasties
Another sign of the prosperity of the publishing industry in the Song Dynasty was the increase in the types of works. The works covered all the knowledge departments at that time, such as Confucian classics, history, and geography. , medicine, agriculture, industry, astronomical algorithms, collections of poems and essays, collections of words, novels, folk literature, Buddhist and Taoist classics and books necessary for folk daily use, etc. Not only were most of the works at that time put into print, but also the works of previous generations were also published one after another. The number of books published in the Song Dynasty exceeded that of previous dynasties.
According to statistics from the third and ninth issues of "World Book" in 1981: From the Western Han Dynasty, Eastern Han Dynasty, Three Kingdoms, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties to the Five Dynasties, my country published more than 23,000 books. There are more than 270,000 volumes, while the number of books published in the Song Dynasty reached 11,000 and more than 124,000 volumes, equivalent to nearly half of the total number of books published in all previous dynasties. This is indeed a prosperous era in the history of publishing in our country.
In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, the government compiled four masterpieces, known historically as the "Four Great Books of the Song Dynasty": "Taiping Yulan", "Cefu Yuangui", "Wenyuan Yinghua" and "Taiping Guangji" , created a new situation in the publishing work of the two Song Dynasties.
The large number of publications in the various disciplines mentioned above is evidence of the prosperity of book printing in the Song Dynasty. 5. At the same time as the Song Dynasty, the Liao and Jin Dynasties in northern my country also engraved exquisite versions of books
The book engraving center of the Jin Dynasty was in Pingshui, Shanxi (now Linfen, Shanxi). Under the rule of the Jin people, Pingshui replaced Bianjing and became the largest publishing center north of the Yellow River. Pingshui has engraved the famous "Zhaocheng Tripitaka" (original 7,000 volumes, more than 4,900 extant volumes) and "Xiao Xian Lao Mingxiu Collection" and so on.
At that time, there were many private bookshops in the Jin Dynasty, and they began to engrave and publish ancient medical books, agricultural books and various literary and artistic books. According to historical records, there were twenty-seven people in Pingshui at that time, and there were five hundred workers, which shows the large scale of publishing. "Liu Zhiyuan Zhugong Diao" published by Pingshui is a folk literature and art songbook. This book is a rare book unearthed by the Russian Kochilov when he was excavating the Xixia ruins in Heishui City, Zhangye, Gansu Province in the 33rd year of Guangxu Period. The book originally consisted of twelve volumes. In 1958, the Soviet Union returned to my country five volumes and 42 pages, which are now in the Beijing Library.
"Liu Zhiyuan's Palace Dialogues" tells the story of Liu Zhiyuan and Li Sanniang, the founder of the Han Dynasty after the Five Dynasties. Yuan opera "White Rabbit" and Shanbei Road Bangzi's "Li Sanniang" and other scripts are all derived from this. Among the cultural relics stolen by Kochilov were the "Picture of Guan Yu" engraved by the Xu family in Pingyang, and the "Picture of Four Beauties" engraved by the Ji family in Pingyang. These prints are now in the Leningrad Museum of the Soviet Union. The "Four Beauties" are Wang Zhaojun, Zhao Feiyan, Luzhu, and Banji. The four women in the picture are handsome, beautiful in appearance, and their images are lifelike.
In addition, the books published by Pingshui include "Additional Notes on Rhymes of the Ministry of Rites", "Tongren Acupoint Acupuncture Illustrated Book", "Republication of Zengguang Classified Lin Miscellanies" and "New Illustrated and Corrected Geography Book" wait.