WOODBLOCK PRINTING
177
The book burning incident was followed by a great literary activity. Efforts were made to replenish the supply of books by seeking out and reissuing works of classical literature from the time of Confucius (孔子).
Writing was no longer restricted to bamboo and wooden slips but was also done on silk cloth, either with a bamboo pen or an animal hair brush. The ink was a black substance obtained from the varnish tree. Later on, silk rags had been cut up into pieces and soaked to form a pasty mass that was then dried and became a sort of paper. Ink was also developed, using lamp-black mixed with glue.
Evidence shows that paper made from hemp fibre was used in the period of the Western Han Dynasty (140-87 BC). A knighted court eunuch of Eastern Han, 105 AD, named Cai Lun (蔡伦), developed the use of much cheaper substances like plank bark fibre from paper mulberry and rattan trees as raw material for making paper. But people were still using bamboo or wooden slips and silk cloth for writing. Not until 403 AD was an order issued by the Emperor of Eastern Jin Dynasty that no more bamboo or wooden slips were allowed to be used for writing, except on the occasions when an official was being knighted (册封).
As early as the second century (175 AD), the Eastern Han Dynasty impressions are believed to have been made from pages of text cut in flat stones on which the characters were sunk into it. Before that time, textbooks were all handwritten manuscripts and were copied one from another. Errors and missing words usually occurred. In order to standardize all textbooks, the government carved large model stone books and had them erected in public places to show to the people.
Classical texts of these Late Han stone engravings contain copies of calligraphic model-writings by the famous calligrapher Cai Yong (蔡邕) and led to the development of a true reproduction process. The in-imprint technique (stone rubbing) improved and eventually was developed into woodblock printing.
The development of woodblock printing
There is no concrete evidence as to the exact date when woodblock printing was invented. According to literary records, it is a...
WOODBLOCK PRINTING
177
The book burning incident was followed by a great literary activity. Efforts were made to replenish the supply of books by seeking out and reissuing works of classical literature from the time of Confucius(孔子).
Writing was no longer restricted to bamboo and wooden slips but was also done on silk cloth (##), either with a bamboo pen or an animal hair brush. The ink was a black substance obtained from the varnish tree. Later on, silk rags had been cut up in pieces and soaked to form a pasty mass that was then dried and became a sort of paper (*). Ink was also developed, using lamp-black mixed with glue.
Evidence shows that paper made from hemp fibre was used in the period of the Western Han Dynasty () 140-87 BC. A knighted court eunuch of Eastern Han (✯✯) 105 AD, named Tsoi Lun( ##), developed the use of much cheaper substances like plank bark fibre from paper mulberry (#) and rattan () trees as raw material for making paper. But people were still using bam- boo or wooden slips and silk cloth for writing. Not until 403 AD was an order issued by the Emperor of Eastern Tsin Dynasty ( § **) that no more bamboo or wooden slips were allowed to be used for writing, except on the occasions when an official was being knighted (册封)
As early as the second century (175 AD) the Eastern Han Dynasty (*) impressions are believed to have been made from pages of text cut in flat stones on which the characters were sunk into it. Before that time, text books were all hand written manus- cripts and were copied one from another. Errors and missing words usually occurred. In order to standardize all text books, the govern- ment carved large model stone books (A) and had them erected in public places to show to the people.
Classical texts of these Late Han stone engravings contain copies of calligraphic model-writings by the famous calligrapher Tsoi Yong (#) and led to the development of a true reproduction process. The in-imprint technique (stone rubbing ) improved and even- tually was developed into woodblock printing.
The development of woodblock printing
There is no concrete evidence as to the exact date when wood- block printing was invented. According to literary records, it is a
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