Printing is one of the four great inventions in ancient China. Before the invention of printing, knowledge could only be spread orally or manually. Word of mouth is easy to make mistakes, while manual copying is time-consuming and laborious, easy to copy mistakes and omissions, and difficult to preserve and spread knowledge, which not only hinders the development of culture, but also causes delays and losses in cultural communication. It was not until the Sui Dynasty that block printing began. When I arrived in Song Renzong, there was a lettering worker named Bi Sheng. He made a long square cylinder out of fine and sticky clay, carved the characters on it, one by one, burned them in a kiln to make movable type, and then arranged the characters in turn according to the content of the article to make a printing plate. This is the invention of movable type printing. Although this printing method is primitive and simple, it is the same as the principle of modern printing. Later, wooden movable type, metal movable type and clay movable type appeared in China, which made printing more and more progress.
With printing, human knowledge, experience, works, history, etc. It can be preserved more widely and accurately, and will not be fallacious or lost because of the dilemma of handwriting. It has played a great role in the inheritance of knowledge, so that human beings can be taught and inspired by the works of predecessors, accumulate the research results of predecessors, and continue to carry forward. Therefore, printing has become a great contribution to human culture and a great leap forward in culture. Moreover, the invention and development of movable-type edition enable human beings to enjoy convenient, fast and low-cost books and printed materials. Through the process of printing and copying in large quantities, knowledge can be widely circulated, and cultural exchanges are more common and frequent through the extensive circulation of these crystallization of human wisdom. Moreover, because knowledge and books are easier to obtain, the general public has the opportunity to receive education. Knowledge books will no longer be just the rights of a few powerful people, accelerate the popularization of knowledge education, and have a significant and far-reaching impact on the evolution of human civilization. Therefore, the invention of printing in China can be said to be the dawn of human culture, creating unprecedented conditions for the wide spread, exchange and inheritance of culture.
The invention of printing is called "great" because its influence is not limited to China, but global, and it has contributed to the cultural development of all mankind. According to historical records, China's woodblock printing technology was introduced to Japan and Korea in the 8th century, and14th century wood movable type technology was introduced to Korea and Japan, and then from Xinjiang to Europe via Persia and Egypt. It made the science in medieval Europe advance by leaps and bounds after a long night, and provided important material conditions for the emergence of the Renaissance. Therefore, the invention of printing has made great contributions to the culture of all mankind.
Francis Bacon once said in the book New Tools: "We should pay attention to the power, efficiency and consequences of various inventions. The most notable examples are printing, gunpowder and compass. These three inventions have changed the face and state of the whole world. The first is academic, the second is military, and the third is navigation, which has produced countless changes. This change is so great that there is no empire, no Sect, and no famous figure can have greater power and influence than these three mechanical inventions in the cause of mankind. " As it says, printing has an extremely important and far-reaching influence on the spread of world knowledge and the evolution of civilization. Without the invention of printing, human culture might still stumble in the long night full of mistakes, the spread of knowledge would be hindered, and the appearance of modern civilization would be delayed for hundreds of years, so the world would not be as prosperous as it is now.
Nowadays, we can enjoy the rich knowledge, prosperous civilization and other achievements brought by the great invention of printing. While being grateful, we should cherish and make full use of these resources, embrace our dreams, inspire ourselves in the wisdom of our predecessors, look forward to Excellence, and continue to promote human civilization.
2. Paper and printed compositions Before writing, our ancestors recorded them with knots.
By the Shang Dynasty 3000 years ago, there were the earliest physical books-documents carved with Oracle bones. Armor is the tortoise's belly armor and back armor; Bones are the shoulder blades of cattle.
Carved on the Oracle Bone Inscriptions in hieroglyphics, it recorded the war, hunting, begging for rain and so on. In addition to Oracle Bone Inscriptions, there are bronze books ── bronze inscriptions, stone drum books ── Shi Guwen.
Official books in China are made of bamboo and wood, which also appeared in the Shang Dynasty. They split trees and bamboo into thin slices, called wooden slips and bamboo slips, and wrote on them. Each book should be made of many Jane, woven with silk rope or tape.
These books are heavy. It is said that the documents reviewed by Qin Shihuang every day weigh about 120 Jin.
In the Western Han Dynasty, someone wrote an article to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, in which 3,000 bamboo slips were used. Two strong men had to carry them into the court with difficulty. At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, people wrote on silk and could roll it up. A book is a roll of silk.
According to legend, paper was invented by a eunuch named Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It has been nearly 2000 years.
Cai Lun invented paper while working in the Palace Appliance Factory. He made hemp paper from hemp, grain paper from branches and mesh paper from old fishing nets.
The specific method is: mash all kinds of materials into paste, then dilute it, and after removing water, it becomes a thin sheet, which is paper. The invention of paper also brought about changes in writing tools. Brush, fountain pen, pencil and ballpoint pen are all designed to adapt to writing on paper.
By the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, paper had become the most important material. In this process, the level of preserving paper characters is also constantly improving.
At that time, the paper used for writing was often dyed first, mainly to prevent insects from eating and rotting. For example, the scrolls of the Tang Dynasty in Dunhuang stone chambers have been preserved for more than 1000 years. Although they are damaged, the paper is intact and there is no moth-eaten phenomenon.
Another great invention brought about by the appearance of paper is printing. At first, the rulers had to use hundreds or even thousands of people to copy a standard book or legal provisions nationwide. Now we can find the sutra depository in a temple with a long history, which shows that the number of sutra depository was very small at the beginning, so it is very precious and cannot be lost.
The appearance of printing made it possible for books to be available to the public. The appearance of printing can't be a day or two.
Generally speaking, it comes from impression first. Impression appeared earlier. For example, when Qin Shihuang promulgated the standard measuring tool, he used the impression mold to print the full text of the imperial edict on pottery.
After the paper is used, the printed matter previously covered on other materials can be directly covered on the paper. However, at this time, it is only printing, not printing. Printing must have the action of "brushing", that is, printing words on paper with objects on the back of the stamp.
It was Bi Sheng who made a qualitative leap in printing. He invented movable type printing, because it is very difficult to make a full-page printing with woodcut, and it is very troublesome to change it once there is an error. Bi Sheng invented the use of clay to carve characters, each character carved a mold, and carved more commonly used characters, which were strengthened by fire.
Then arrange them on the iron plate as needed. In this way, the font of the same word can be reused, and it is convenient to find mistakes and change them.
Before computer typing appeared, movable type printing was always used, but the materials used were getting better and better. Now, the emergence of computers has made a qualitative leap in the way of text dissemination.
3. The invention of printing Before the invention of printing, the spread of culture mainly depended on handwritten books.
Handwriting is time-consuming and laborious, and it is easy to make mistakes and omissions. It not only hinders the development of culture, but also brings undue losses to the spread of culture.
Seals and stone carvings provide direct experience enlightenment for printing, and the method of inking stone tablets with paper directly points out the direction for block printing. The development of printing in China has gone through two stages: block printing and movable type printing, which has presented a generous gift for the development of mankind.
Seal cutting, rubbing, printing and dyeing, block printing existed in the pre-Qin period, generally only a few words, indicating name, official position or institution. All seals are engraved and reflected, and there is a difference between yin and yang.
Before paper appeared, official documents or letters were written on bamboo slips. After writing, tie it with a rope, put sticky mud on the ligation place to seal the knot, and cover the seal on the mud, which is called mud seal. Mud seal was printed on mud, which was a secret means at that time. After the appearance of paper, mud seal evolved into paper seal, which was covered at the joint of several official documents or the sealing of official documents paper bags.
According to records, during the Northern Qi Dynasty (550~577 AD), someone made a big seal for stamping official documents, much like a small block print. Bronze seal in the Warring States period (475 BC-22 BC1year).
Ge Hong, a famous alchemist in the Jin Dynasty (AD 284-363), mentioned in his book Bao Puzi that Taoism used the word "four inches square" (13.5* 13.5) and "big wooden seal" 120. This is already a small block.
In order to make Buddhist scriptures more vivid, Buddhists often print Buddha statues on the frontispiece of Buddhist scriptures. This kind of hand block printing is much more convenient than hand painting. Inscription technology is very enlightening to the invention of engraving printing technology.
The invention of stone carving has a long history. Ten-sided stone drums were discovered in Fengxiang, Shaanxi Province in the early Tang Dynasty. They are the stone carvings of Qin in the Spring and Autumn Period of the 8th century BC.
Qin Shihuang went on patrol and carved stones in important places seven times. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, stone tablets prevailed.
In the fourth year of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty (AD 175), Cai Yong suggested that the imperial court set up seven Confucian classic stone tablets, including The Book of Songs, Shangshu, Zhouyi, Book of Rites, Spring and Autumn Annals, Biography of the Ram and The Analects of Confucius, with 209,000 words, which were engraved on 46 stone tablets. It took eight years to carve it all.
Become a classic of scholars at that time. Many people compete to copy.
Later, especially during the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, some people took advantage of being unprepared or unattended to print the scriptures on paper for their own use or sale. The results were widely circulated.
The ancients found that a slightly wet piece of paper was covered on the stone tablet and tapped with a soft mallet to make the paper fall into the concave part of the stone tablet. When the paper is dry, it is wrapped in cotton, dipped in ink, and tapped lightly on the paper, leaving the same black and white characters on the paper as the stone tablet. This method is simpler and more reliable than manual copying.
So rubbing appeared. Friction is one of the important conditions of printing technology.
Printing and dyeing technology also has great enlightenment to block printing. Printing and dyeing is to engrave the pattern on the board and print it on the cloth with dye. China's printing plates are divided into relief and hollowed-out versions.
1972 two pieces of printed yarn (about 165 BC) unearthed from the Han tomb at Mawangdui No.1 in Changsha, Hunan Province were printed by block printing. This technology may be earlier than Qin and Han Dynasties, but it can be traced back to the Warring States Period.
After the invention of paper, this technology may be used in printing. As long as the cloth is turned into paper and the dye is turned into ink, the printed thing becomes block printing. In the stone chambers of Dunhuang, there are Buddha statues printed with convex plates and hollow plates in the Tang Dynasty.
Seal cutting, rubbing, printing and dyeing technologies are mutually inspired and blended, and with the experience and wisdom of our people, block printing technology came into being. Invention of block printing technology: Will the development of seal cutting, rubbing and printing and dyeing technology lead to the invention of block printing technology? It is undeniable that these three technologies have played a great role, but as a new invention, the invention of block printing technology must have its innovative content, and the needs of society are also essential.
Since the Qin Dynasty unified Chinese characters, Chinese characters have developed rapidly. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shuo Wen Jie Zi received 9,353 words, while in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Pian Yu received more than 22,000 words.
Using so many words to express ideas, each word is composed of several strokes, which is laborious and time-consuming to write. Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and a hundred schools of thought developed together, and more and more works were produced.
Han Shu Yi Wen Zhi collected 65,438+04,994 volumes of various works, Classic Sui Shu Lu collected 50,889 volumes, and Sui Neifu collected 370,000 volumes. China has a large population, nearly 60 million at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, and 50,000 students in the Eastern Han Dynasty alone.
Scholars have a great demand for books to read official history and classics. In addition, scholars among Buddhists and Taoists should also read Buddhist scriptures and Taoist scriptures.
In this way, there is a great demand for books in society. If we look at the setting and printing technology of block printing, we will find what it inherits and develops from seal cutting, rubbing and printing and dyeing technology.
The process of block printing is roughly as follows: after the sample manuscript is written, stick the side with words on the board, so that the lettering can be done. Carvers use different types of carving knives to carve the reflexive ink on the woodcut into convex orthography, and at the same time remove the remaining blank parts on the woodcut to make it concave. The inscription on the board is probably 1 ~ 2mm publishing surface.
Rinse the carved board with hot water, wash off sawdust, etc. The shaping process is completed. When printing, use a cylindrical flat-bottomed brush to dip ink evenly on the board surface, then carefully cover the paper on the board surface, and with a brush, you can print a positive image of words or pictures on the paper.
Lift the paper from the printing board and dry it in the shade, and the printing process is completed. A printer can print 1500~2000 sheets a day, and a printing plate can print 10,000 times continuously.
We can see that the rigid process is a bit like the process of engraving, but more words are engraved. The printing process is the opposite of the seal.
The seal is printed on the top and the paper is printed on the bottom. The printing process of block printing is a bit like rubbings, except that the words on the block are positive and negative, while the words on the general stone tablet are negative and positive.
In addition, rubbing ink is coated on the paper and engraving ink is coated on the plate. It can be seen that block printing not only inherits the techniques of seal cutting, rubbing, printing and dyeing, but also has technological innovation.
The invention time of block printing has always been a controversial issue. After repeated discussions, most experts believe that the origin time of block printing is between 590 and 640 AD, that is, from Sui Dynasty to early Tang Dynasty. Printed materials were unearthed in the early Tang Dynasty.
1900, in.
4. The invention of printing Before the invention of printing, the spread of culture mainly depended on handwritten books.
Handwriting is time-consuming and laborious, and it is easy to make mistakes and omissions. It not only hinders the development of culture, but also brings undue losses to the spread of culture.
Seals and stone carvings provide direct experience enlightenment for printing, and the method of inking stone tablets with paper directly points out the direction for block printing. The development of printing in China has gone through two stages: block printing and movable type printing, which has presented a generous gift for the development of mankind.
Seal cutting, rubbing, printing and dyeing, block printing existed in the pre-Qin period, generally only a few words, indicating name, official position or institution. All seals are engraved and reflected, and there is a difference between yin and yang.
Before paper appeared, official documents or letters were written on bamboo slips. After writing, tie it with a rope, put sticky mud on the ligation place to seal the knot, and cover the seal on the mud, which is called mud seal. Mud seal was printed on mud, which was a secret means at that time. After the appearance of paper, mud seal evolved into paper seal, which was covered at the joint of several official documents or the sealing of official documents paper bags.
According to records, during the Northern Qi Dynasty (550~577 AD), someone made a big seal for stamping official documents, much like a small engraving. Bronze seal in the Warring States period (475 BC-22 BC1year).
Ge Hong, a famous alchemist in the Jin Dynasty (AD 284-363), mentioned in his book Bao Puzi that Taoism used the word "four inches square" (13.5* 13.5) and "big wooden seal" 120. This is already a small block.
In order to make Buddhist scriptures more vivid, Buddhists often print Buddha statues on the frontispiece of Buddhist scriptures. This kind of hand block printing is much more convenient than hand painting. Inscription technology is very enlightening to the invention of engraving printing technology.
The invention of stone carving has a long history. Ten-sided stone drums were discovered in Fengxiang, Shaanxi Province in the early Tang Dynasty. They are the stone carvings of Qin in the Spring and Autumn Period of the 8th century BC.
Qin Shihuang went on patrol and carved stones in important places seven times. After the Eastern Han Dynasty, stone tablets prevailed.
In the fourth year of Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty (AD 175), Cai Yong suggested that the imperial court set up seven Confucian classic stone tablets, including The Book of Songs, Shangshu, Zhouyi, Book of Rites, Spring and Autumn Annals, Biography of the Ram and The Analects of Confucius, with 209,000 words, which were engraved on 46 stone tablets. It took eight years to carve it all.
Become a classic of scholars at that time. Many people compete to copy.
Later, especially during the Wei, Jin and Six Dynasties, some people took advantage of being unprepared or unattended to print the scriptures on paper for their own use or sale. The results were widely circulated.
The ancient artificial human Jifa covered the stone tablet with a slightly wet piece of paper and tapped it with a soft mallet to make the paper fall into the concave part of the stone tablet. When the paper is dry, it is wrapped in cotton, dipped in ink and patted on the paper, leaving the same handwriting as the stone tablet. This method is simpler and more reliable than manual copying.
So rubbing appeared. Friction is one of the important conditions of printing technology.
Printing and dyeing technology also has great enlightenment to block printing. Printing and dyeing is to engrave the pattern on the board and print it on the cloth with dye. China's printing plates are divided into relief and hollowed-out versions.
1972 two pieces of printed yarn (about 165 BC) unearthed from the Han tomb at Mawangdui No.1 in Changsha, Hunan Province were printed by block printing. This technology may be earlier than Qin and Han Dynasties, but it can be traced back to the Warring States Period.
After the invention of paper, this technology may be used in printing. As long as the cloth is turned into paper and the dye is turned into ink, the printed thing becomes block printing. In the stone chambers of Dunhuang, there are Buddha statues printed with convex plates and hollow plates in the Tang Dynasty.
Seal cutting, rubbing, printing and dyeing technologies are mutually inspired and blended, and with the experience and wisdom of our people, block printing technology came into being. Invention of block printing technology: Will the development of seal cutting, rubbing and printing and dyeing technology lead to the invention of block printing technology? It is undeniable that these three technologies have played a great role, but as a new invention, the invention of block printing technology must have its innovative content, and the needs of society are also essential.
Since the Qin Dynasty unified Chinese characters, Chinese characters have developed rapidly. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Shuo Wen Jie Zi received 9,353 words, while in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Pian Yu received more than 22,000 words.
Using so many words to express ideas, each word is composed of several strokes, which is laborious and time-consuming to write. Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism and a hundred schools of thought developed together, and more and more works were produced.
Han Shu Yi Wen Zhi collected 65,438+04,994 volumes of various works, Classic Sui Shu Lu collected 50,889 volumes, and Sui Neifu collected 370,000 volumes. China has a large population, nearly 60 million at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, and 50,000 students in the Eastern Han Dynasty alone.
Scholars have a great demand for books to read official history and classics. In addition, scholars among Buddhists and Taoists should also read Buddhist scriptures and Taoist scriptures.
In this way, there is a great demand for books in society. If we look at the setting and printing technology of block printing, we will find what it inherits and develops from seal cutting, rubbing and printing and dyeing technology.
The process of block printing is roughly as follows: after the sample manuscript is written, stick the side with words on the board, so that the lettering can be done. Carvers use different types of carving knives to carve the reflexive ink on the woodcut into convex orthography, and at the same time remove the remaining blank parts on the woodcut to make it concave. The inscription on the board is probably 1 ~ 2mm publishing surface.
Rinse the carved board with hot water, wash off sawdust, etc. The shaping process is completed. When printing, use a cylindrical flat-bottomed brush to dip ink evenly on the board surface, then carefully cover the paper on the board surface, and with a brush, you can print a positive image of words or pictures on the paper.
Lift the paper from the printing board and dry it in the shade, and the printing process is completed. A printer can print 1500~2000 sheets a day, and a printing plate can print 10,000 times continuously.
We can see that the rigid process is a bit like the process of engraving, but more words are engraved. The printing process is the opposite of the seal.
The seal is printed on the top and the paper is printed on the bottom. The printing process of block printing is a bit like rubbings, except that the words on the block are positive and negative, while the words on the general stone tablet are negative and positive.
In addition, rubbing ink is coated on the paper and engraving ink is coated on the plate. It can be seen that block printing not only inherits the techniques of seal cutting, rubbing, printing and dyeing, but also has technological innovation.
The invention time of block printing has always been a controversial issue. After repeated discussions, most experts believe that the origin time of block printing is between 590 and 640 AD.
5. Writing Ancient Invention Composition Four Great Inventions
Dear teachers and classmates, hello,
In the long river of history, the 5,000-year history books of the Chinese nation have written the endless pursuit of beauty and happiness, showing the indelible pursuit of democracy and prosperity. The long history and splendid civilization have never been interrupted. We know that the Chinese nation has four great inventions. What do they mean?
The four great inventions refer to the four great inventions in ancient China that had great influence on the world. Namely papermaking, compass, gunpowder and movable type printing. This statement was first put forward by Joseph Needham, a British sinologist, and was later inherited by many historians in China. It is generally believed that these four great inventions greatly promoted the development of politics, economy and culture in ancient China. These inventions spread to the west through various channels and had a great influence on the history of world civilization.
Let's talk about papermaking first. Papermaking is one of the four great inventions in China and an outstanding invention in the history of human civilization. China is the first country in the world to raise silkworms and weave silk. The working people of the Han nationality spun silk from the first-class cocoons, and the rest of the evil cocoons and sick cocoons were bleached to make silk floss. After floating, some residual flocs will be left on the mat. When the flossing frequency is high, the residual flossing on the pad will accumulate into fiber sheets, which can be peeled off after drying and can be used for writing. This kind of floc is called "He Qi" or "square floc" in ancient books because of its small number of by-products. This shows that the origin of papermaking of Han nationality in China is related to silk floss.
Let's talk about Cai Lun who improved papermaking! In the first year of Yuan Xing in the Eastern Han Dynasty (105), Cai Lun improved papermaking.
He made paper from bark, hemp head, cloth, fishing net and other raw materials through crushing, ramming, papermaking and baking, which is the origin of modern paper. This kind of paper is easy to find, cheap and has improved its quality, so it is gradually widely used. In order to commemorate Cai Lun's achievements, later generations called this kind of paper "Cai Hou Paper"
After papermaking, let's talk about gunpowder. Gunpowder was invented by Han people in China during the Sui and Tang Dynasties, and it has been more than 1000 years. The study of gunpowder began with the ancient Taoist alchemy. The ancients refined Dan medicine to live forever. The purpose and motive of alchemy are ridiculous, but its experimental method still has some merits, which eventually led to the invention of gunpowder.