Bamboo slips and silks are the main writing materials widely used in Han Dynasty. Since Cai Lun created a new idea and made new "paper" from bark, hemp, rags and fishing nets, paper has been gradually applied to folk communication activities.
In the early days of new paper, paper books did not completely replace bamboo slips and silk books. The reason is either insufficient production or people's ideas have not changed. With the development of social economy and culture, people fully realize the superiority of paper.
"Bei Tang Shu Chao" records that Cui Yuan, a calligrapher in the Eastern Han Dynasty, couldn't afford silk, so he gave it to his friends by copying books on paper, with a postscript to apologize:
Today, I sent a book, a basket of 1000 yuan, and ten volumes of Xu Zi, who is poor but has paper ears.
This letter can be traced back to the mid-Eastern Han Dynasty, reflecting that paper has become a widely used writing material at that time. Cai Lun paper has also created favorable conditions for the circulation of books through copying. Because paper is easier to copy, words and books are more widely spread. "Biography of Jin Shu Wen Yuan Zuo Si": "Therefore, famous families strive for biography, and Luoyang is also expensive." "Biography" mentioned in the allusion of "Luoyang paper is expensive" is another important way of book circulation in Han Dynasty.
Paper-making technology also promoted the prosperity of books in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In fact, both Han dynasties paid more attention to knowledge. As early as the early years of the Western Han Dynasty and after the war at the end of the Qin Dynasty, the loss of books and documents was extremely serious. After the reunification of the country, Liu Bang, Emperor Gaozu, started the civil administration construction and collected and arranged books for three times.
First, in the early Han Dynasty, Emperor Gaozu ordered Xiao He to collect the secrets of Qin Dou; Second, during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the road of offering books was broadened. In addition to the collections in the court, many institutions have been established outside the court to preserve books and classics, such as Shiqu Pavilion and Qilin Pavilion. At the same time, private collections have also made great progress; The third is the book offering activity when Han proclaimed himself emperor.
After three large-scale book collection activities by the Western Han government, the book collection in the Han Dynasty reached a certain height. "Over the past hundred years, books have accumulated like a mountain" and "there are endless historical relics", with more than 3500 pieces of documents in Chang 'an collection/kloc-0. Because these documents were extremely messy, the emperor asked someone to organize them. So many "proofreaders" appeared, such as Liu Xiang and Liu Xin.
The circulation of books in the Eastern Han Dynasty is the same as that in the Western Han Dynasty, consisting of state books and private books. The imperial court followed the system of managing books in the Western Han Dynasty and strictly controlled the books collected by the state. The only readers allowed are the emperor, people licensed by the emperor, editors and proofreaders.
In addition, the court of the Eastern Han Dynasty also called many famous scholars, such as Ban Gu and Cai Yong, to use the archives and books collected by the state to write the national history, and visited the East in the National Library successively, using books to write the History of the East.
At the same time, private books were allowed in the Eastern Han Dynasty, so there were many book collectors and a large collection of books at that time. According to the records of the later Han Dynasty, Ban Gu, Wang Heping, Cai Yong and others have many books in their homes. Due to the development of books in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zheng Xuan, the master of proofreading books, is a typical example.
The improvement of papermaking technology has also prompted the emergence of "bookstores". Through the learning experience of Wang Chong, a thinker in the Eastern Han Dynasty, we can see the role of a city like Luoyang and a book market at that time.
The biography of Wang Chong in the Later Han Dynasty records that Wang Chong lost his father when he was a child and was praised for his filial piety in the village. Later, I went to Beijing and studied in Imperial College. Ban Biao, who helped the wind, became his teacher. Wang Chong likes to read widely, and doesn't pick chapters and keep sentences. Because his family is poor and has no books to read, he often wanders around the bookstore in Luoyang, reading books sold by others. After reading them once, he can remember and recite them, so he soon became widely familiar with various theories of many schools.
Wang Chong later returned to the village and engaged in teaching in seclusion. His cultural masterpiece Lun Heng is a milestone in academic history. His academic foundation actually came from reading books sold by Luoyang Bookstore for free.
There was another scholar in the Eastern Han Dynasty, Xun Yue, whose academic accumulation was achieved by reading in bookstores. According to historical records, Xun Yue was able to read Chunqiu at the age of 12. Because my family is poor and there are no books, I always go to the bookstore and read with an empty stomach. Xun Yue later became a famous historian. Han Ji, written by him, has become one of the historical classics that Han history researchers must read.
The circulation of books in the market in Han dynasty shows that books entered the society under the impetus of the invention of paper, and there are supporting stationery for writing documents. Presumably, there were already roughly defined dealers and outlets for buying and selling books. This is also the embodiment of the degree of cultural development.
The improvement of papermaking has promoted the development of communication, dissemination and writing, book collection and bookstores, which is a major progress in the way of document circulation and the process of culture and history.