Which two of China’s four great inventions were invented during that period and began to be used on a large scale?

The four great inventions of ancient China

The four great inventions play an important role in the history of human civilization. Printing, the compass, gunpowder and papermaking are the four great inventions of ancient China and are the key to the development of our country. The reason why it has become one of the symbols of ancient civilization is that in ancient times, China's science and technology was at the forefront of the world in many aspects. For more than a thousand years after the 5th century, Europe was in a feudal society. During this long period, China's Science and technology have been developing forward, but European science and technology has stagnated. It was only in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, due to the disintegration of the feudal system and the gradual formation of the capitalist system, that modern natural science in Europe was born.

China's four great inventions were introduced to the West one after another before the emergence of modern European civilization, and became "the necessary prerequisite for the development of the bourgeoisie" ("The Complete Works of Marx and Engels"), providing the material basis for the bourgeoisie to enter the political stage: The emergence of printing changed the situation in which only monks could read and receive higher education, and facilitated the spread of culture; the introduction of gunpowder and firearms destroyed feudal castles and helped the bourgeoisie defeat the feudal aristocracy; the compass reached the hands of European navigators It made it possible for them to discover America and sail around the world, laying the foundation for the development of world trade and handicraft industry for the bourgeoisie. In short, the four great inventions of ancient China left a brilliant page in the history of human science and culture. These Great inventions have influenced and benefited the whole world, and promoted the progress of human history.

The invention of the compass

One of the four great inventions in ancient China. The use of magnets in the earth's magnetic field A pointing instrument made of north-south polarity, which comes in many forms. During the Warring States Period, the phenomenon of magnets attracting iron was discovered, and natural magnets were used to make "Sinan's Spoon" and "Handle Guide". After that, after a long period of time, During the practice, the method of artificial magnetization was discovered, resulting in a higher-level magnetic pointing instrument. Shen Kuo, a scientist in the Song Dynasty, first recorded the geomagnetic declination angle, saying that a steel needle was rubbed with a natural magnet to magnetize it into a magnetic needle, which could guide the guide, but it was often slightly deflected. East, and introduced four methods of hanging magnetic needles: one is floating on the water, the second is placing it on the nail, the third is placing it on the rim of the bowl, and the fourth is hanging with threads (see the color picture of the thread hanging method of the compass, according to Shen Kuo's records Copy model). The Song army was equipped with a compass, which was a thin iron leaf cut into a fish shape and magnetized. It was used to judge the marching direction on cloudy days and nights. Later, it developed into a compass with a magnetic needle and an azimuth disk integrated into one, that is, a compass. Zeng Sanyi recorded in "Yin Hua Lu" that there were "earth snails" at that time, "either with Ziwu Zhengzhen, or with Ziwu and Bingren sewing needles." This kind of earth snail was also a kind of water compass. At that time, Yin and Yang households used earth snails. Luo Kan Feng Shui. Di Luo is also used when clearing land and deciding land lawsuits. According to "Pingzhou Ketan", "Xuanhe Fengshi Gaoli Illustrated Book", "Zhufan Zhi" and "Mengliang Lu" records, by late In the late Northern Song Dynasty, compasses were used for navigation. In the Southern Song Dynasty, "pin disks" were used for navigation. This dials also used "floating needles", which played a great role in the development of maritime transportation and economic and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries.< /p>

The earliest "compass" During the Warring States Period, our people used magnets to create a tool to indicate direction, called "Sinan". "Sinan" means guide.

The shape of Sinan It is completely different from the current compass. It was made according to the shape of an ancient Chinese spoon, very similar to the spoon we use now.

How was Sinan made? There is a lack of detailed records in ancient books. There is no physical object left, so we have no way to know its exact shape. According to experts' research, Sinan probably took a whole piece of natural magnet and gently shaped it into the shape of a spoon, and shaped its S pole into a long handle. , so that the center of gravity falls in the middle of the round and smooth bottom.

After the Sinan is completed, a smooth chassis must be made. When using it, first lay the chassis flat, and then place the Sinan in the middle of the chassis , turn its handle with your hand to make it rotate. When Sinan stops, its long handle points to the south, and the mouth of the spoon points to the north.

Sinan's chassis is made of bronze, and some are made of bronze. A painted wooden plate, both bronze and lacquer, is relatively smooth, with relatively small friction resistance, and Sinan can rotate very flexibly. This kind of chassis is round inside and square outside, and is also engraved with grid lines and characters indicating the direction around it. The current unearthed cultural relics There are such copper plates and painted wooden plates; there is also a stone carving from the Eastern Han Dynasty, which shows a small spoon placed on a small square platform. Some people think that this is Sinan.

Sinan is the world's earliest "compass". During the Warring States Period

At that time, some people went to pick jade. They were afraid of getting lost in the barren mountains, so they took Sinan with them.

Sinan must be rotated on a smooth chassis, and the chassis must be kept flat, otherwise it will affect its function as a guide. It may even cause it to slide off the chassis. Therefore, after people invented Sinan, they continued to research

tools to improve the guide.

Guide Fish In 960 AD, Taizu of the Song Dynasty established the Song Dynasty, which ended the feudal separatist situation during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. During the Northern Song Dynasty, agriculture, handicrafts and commerce had new developments. On this basis, China's science and technology made brilliant achievements. During the Song Dynasty, China's The manufacturing of compasses, like papermaking and printing, has also developed greatly.

About the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, China created another guide tool - the compass fish.

< p>There was a famous military work at that time called "Martial Arts General Essentials", which said: When marching, if it is cloudy and dark and the direction cannot be determined, you should let the old horse lead the way, or use a compass and a compass. The guide fish identifies the direction. The book "Wu Jing Zong Yao" was written before the fourth year of Qingli (AD 1044) by Renzong in the Northern Song Dynasty. This means that at that time, our country already had guide fish, and it was It has been applied to the military.

The guide fish is made of a thin piece of steel and is shaped like a fish. It is two inches long and five minutes wide. The belly of the fish is concave. Make it float on the water like a small boat.

The fish made of steel sheets is not magnetic, so it has no role as a guide. If you want it to guide, you must use artificial magnetism. It turns into a magnet and has magnetic properties.

As for how to carry out artificial magnetism transmission, "Wu Jing Zong Yao" does not clearly record it, but it points out that the guide fish must be collected with a "secret device", that is, It is said that a sealed zygote should be hidden. Based on this point, the artificial magnetism method at that time was roughly as follows: put the fish made of steel sheets and the natural magnet in the same sealed zygote, so that they are in contact. Over time, the fish made of steel sheets will also become magnetic and become a magnet.

It turns out that every molecule in steel, whether magnetized or not, is a "little magnet". No In a magnetized steel bar, its molecules are arranged in no order, and the magnetism of the "little magnets" cancels each other out. In a magnetized steel bar, all the "little magnets" are neatly arranged, with the same magnetic poles facing towards each other. It goes without saying that the entire steel bar is magnetic if it is pointed in one direction. If you take a magnet and rub it tightly against an unmagnetized steel bar, always moving from one end to the other, then, due to the attraction of the magnet, usually The molecules in the steel bar are also arranged in one direction, so that the work of "magnetism transmission" is completed. The "secret weapon collection" mentioned in "Wu Jing Zong Yao" may refer to this artificial transmission. Magnetic method.

The Chinese people invented the use of artificial magnets to make guide fish, which is a great progress. This shows that the Chinese people already had considerable knowledge of magnets more than 900 years ago.

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Using guide fish is more convenient than using Sinan. It does not need to make a smooth copper plate, as long as there is a bowl of water. Even if the water bowl is placed unevenly, it will not affect the function of the guide. , because the water surface in the bowl is flat. Moreover, because the friction of the liquid is smaller than that of the solid, it rotates more flexibly, so it is more sensitive and accurate than the Sinan.

At that time, it was not only made of steel sheets Guide fish, as well as guide fish and guide turtles made of wood. "Shi Lin Guang Ji" of the Song Dynasty records the method of making guide fish out of wood: Use a piece of wood to carve the shape of a fish, as big as a finger, and dig a hole in the fish's mouth. hole, take a magnet and put it inside so that its S-level faces outward, then seal the mouth with wax. In addition, insert a needle through the fish's mouth, and the Muronan fish is ready. Put the guide fish in On the water, the needle in the fish's mouth points south.

The guide turtle is also carved from wood. The method of placing the magnet is the same as the wooden guide fish, inserting it into the tail. The guide turtle is not placed in the water. People dig a hole under its belly and mount it on a smooth bamboo nail so that it can rotate freely. The needle at its tail will automatically point to the south.

This kind of wooden guide The fish and the guide turtle were probably created by some alchemists who knew alchemy, and they were only used for magic. Therefore, the author of "Shilin Guangji" regarded them as "immortal illusions".

Gunpowder The invention of

The mixture of C) has the ability to burn and explode. In the late Tang Dynasty (904-906), gunpowder arrows began to appear in wars, and there were also records of "engines flying on fire", that is, trebuchets were used to throw gunpowder packets as a Incendiary weapons. In the Song Dynasty, Kaifeng Prefecture in Tokyo (now Kaifeng, Henan Province) set up extensive siege equipment, including a gunpowder production department. The book "Wu Jing Zong Yao" records three formulas of gunpowder, and gunpowder production has reached a considerable scale. Although the production technology was kept strictly confidential, it was still introduced to the Liao Dynasty. Therefore, while large quantities of sulfur were imported from Japan, the export of sulfur and flame salt to the Liao Dynasty was strictly prohibited. During the reign of Zhao Xu, Emperor Shenzong of the Song Dynasty, the border guards were equipped with a large number of weapons such as gunpowder bows and arrows, gunpowder artillery arrows, etc. During the reign of Emperor Daozong of the Liao Dynasty, the "Daily Parade of Artillery" was also carried out in Jinfu (now Beijing) in Nanjing. During the Southern Song Dynasty, the navy was also equipped with thunderbolt cannons, artillery, rockets and other weapons. Gunpowder weapons manufacturing industries were established in cities such as Fufu (today's Jiangling, Hubei Province). Early gunpowder weapons had limited power and could not replace cold weapons. However, since the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty, the proportion of gunpowder weapons in weapons has increased significantly (see color picture Rockets ( Model) Tie the gunpowder barrel to the front of the arrow, and use the backward thrust generated when the gunpowder burns to drive the arrow forward. It is one of the gunpowder weapons equipped by the army of the Song Dynasty). The gunpowder manufacturing technology of the Jin Dynasty originated from the Liao Dynasty. At the beginning of the Jin army's attack on the Song Dynasty, Artillery has been used. Since then, in the wars between the Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, gunpowder was used more and more frequently. When the Jin Dynasty fought against the Mongolian army, firearms such as thunderbolts and flying guns were used. In the Song Dynasty, iron weapons similar to modern artillery shells appeared. Artillery, but still used trebuchets to project; they also invented the gunpowder, which used giant bamboo as a tube to fire "zi nests", similar to later generations of guns, but did not use metal launch tubes. This was the gunpowder of the Liao, Song, and Jin dynasties. The limit of progress in weapons has determined the development direction of gunpowder weapons in later generations. In short, the Liao, Song and Jin dynasties can be regarded as the foundation period for human use of gunpowder. In the Yuan and Ming dynasties, tubular firearms cast from copper and iron were discovered - gun and Cannon.

Muskets During the Southern Song Dynasty, the use of gunpowder became more and more common, and firearms were further developed. In order to defend against the intrusion of the Jin soldiers, the military strategists of the Southern Song Dynasty continued to think of ways to improve weapons. In the early Southern Song Dynasty, In the second year of Shaoxing, Emperor Gaozong of the Song Dynasty (1132 AD), a military scientist named Chen Gui invented a tubular firearm - the musket. This was a great progress in the history of firearms. .

This kind of musket is made of a long bamboo pole, and the bamboo tube is filled with gunpowder. During the war, two people hold it, light the fire, launch it, and use it to burn the enemy.< /p>

This is the earliest tubular firearm that appeared in our country. Putting gunpowder in a bamboo tube to make a gun is a great progress in the application of gunpowder. It is not easy to hit accurately when firing gunpowder with a trebuchet. target; with tubular firearms, people can fire more accurately and properly control the detonation of gunpowder.

After the invention of the musket, after continuous improvement, by the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, someone invented the explosive gun. Fire gun. The fire gun is made of a rough bamboo tube. Gunpowder is placed in the bamboo tube, and something called a "zi nest" is also placed in it. After the gunpowder is ignited with fire, a flame is emitted at first, and then the "zi nest" is shot out. And it makes a sound like a cannon.

What exactly is this "zi nest"? It is probably the earliest bullet, but unfortunately there is no explanation in ancient books.

The function of the musket is only to burn people, but the musket can shoot people with its shells, which is a step further than the musket.

Both the musket and the musket are primitive tubular firearms made of bamboo tubes. , not very powerful, but they are the ancestors of modern guns. Modern guns slowly developed from them.

The invention of papermaking

Yuanxing of the Eastern Han Dynasty In the first year of the year (105), Cai Lun reformed and promoted papermaking technology based on the previous artificial paper technology. The new papermaking technology turned the old hemp paper, which was inconvenient for writing, into a high-quality paper technology whose general structure has not changed to this day.

Before the emergence of Cai Lun’s papermaking technology, in China, oracle bones were used in the Shang Dynasty, bronzes were used in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and bamboo slips, wooden slips, and silk were used as record materials in the Spring and Autumn Period. In the Han Dynasty, agriculture was developed, the economy was prosperous, the national power was strong, and cultural undertakings Booming development. Bulky bamboo slips and expensive silk fabrics can no longer meet people's needs. It has become a trend to seek new writing materials, and papermaking came into being.

According to the development trend since the mid-20th century, Ancient hemp paper unearthed in Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Gansu and other places has been confirmed by experts to be the sheet fiber material of Western Han hemp paper, indicating that papermaking may have appeared before Cai Lun, and may be related to people's processing of hemp for textiles. But these No ancient hemp paper from the Western Han Dynasty has been found that can be identified.

In addition to the different interpretations of laboratory analysis results, there is still a lot of controversy in the art world about whether papermaking has appeared in the Western Han Dynasty. The record of Cai Lun's invention of papermaking in "Book of the Later Han·Cai Lun" is the first to date. It is the earliest record of papermaking with accurate records of time and people, and is widely recognized.

Cai Lun (62-121), courtesy name Jingzhong, was born in Guiyang (now Chenzhou, Hunan) and was the 18th emperor of Ming Dynasty Yongping He entered the palace as an eunuch in the year (75). In the first year of Emperor Zhanghe (87), he was appointed Shang Fangling and took charge of the palace handicraft workshop. In the first year of Emperor Yuanxing (105), papermaking was invented. In the first year of Emperor An's Yuanchu period (114), he was granted the title of Longting. Hou. Emperor An died in the first year of Jianguang (121) and was buried in the fiefdom.

"Book of the Later Han Dynasty: Biography of Cai Lun" records: Before Cai Lun made paper, the paper on which he wrote notes was actually silk fabric (Silk silk). Cai Lun used bark, hemp heads, rags, and fish nets, and went through a series of processes such as beating, pounding, copying, and baking to make plant fiber paper. It is a good paper whose general structure has not changed to this day, and it is also paper in the true sense. In 105, Cai Lun presented paper to Emperor He of the Han Dynasty, and was praised by Emperor He. Papermaking became widely known throughout the world, and the paper made by Cai Lun was called "Cai Hou Paper"; 105 is generally regarded as the age of the invention of papermaking. .

Cai Lun’s reform and promotion of papermaking led to the increasing use of paper after the Eastern Han Dynasty. From the archaeological excavation of ancient paper from the Eastern Han Dynasty, many of them have written characters, and their quality is obvious. Improvement. These ancient papers of the Eastern Han Dynasty, or poems, letters, or remnants of letters, are all products of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, and should be accurately dated around the fourth year of Yongchu (110). Scientists analyzed the 1974 Wuwei Dry Beach in Gansu Province. A detailed scientific analysis was conducted on the ancient paper with writings unearthed from the tomb of the late Eastern Han Dynasty in Shandong Province. It was found that the ancient paper has a certain strength and flexibility, and its thickness is equivalent to that of modern machine-made manuscript paper. The raw material is hemp and other hemp fibers, and the fibers are finely intertwined. It is even and compact, and has a single-sided coating process, indicating that the papermaking process at that time was quite sophisticated and the papermaking technology had reached a certain level.

The use of paper in the Eastern Han Dynasty is recorded in many manuscripts and documents. For example, " The tribute paper mentioned in "The Book of the Later Han: Chronicles of Empress Deng" and the Shaofu Gongshou Ling and Shangshu Ling Youcheng who were in charge of paper and ink in the palace mentioned in the "Book of the Later Han: The Records of Hundred Officials" indicate that paper has already been used in the palace. It is widely used. The writing paper and writing paper contained in the "Book of the Later Han·Yandu Biography" and the letter paper contained in the "Beitang Shuchao" show that ordinary officials and scholars also use paper to write.< /p>

The invention of papermaking is one of the greatest inventions in ancient China and one of the most outstanding achievements in the history of human civilization. The emergence of paper is the foundation of human civilization. As a new information carrier, it China was the first to appear, which made the Chinese civilization of the Han Dynasty flourish more than other civilizations. Around the eighth century AD, Arabs began to use Chinese technology and equipment to make paper.

The emergence and promotion of paper made the culture of the Han Dynasty more prosperous than other civilizations. Life has taken on a new look. The quality of paper is getting better and better. In the second year of Hanzhongping (185), Shandong papermaking expert Zuo Bo (ziyi) created "Zuobo Paper", which was known as "Ziyi's Paper" in history. "Wonderful brilliance". From the 2nd to the 5th century AD, Zuo Bo paper, Zhang Zhi pen and Wei Dan ink were once favorite study supplies of literati. However, throughout the Han Dynasty, the dominant writing materials were still bamboo slips and bamboo slips. Silk. It was not until after the Jin Dynasty that the economy developed and papermaking technology spread to the Yangtze River Basin and Jiangnan area. Papermaking materials were abundant and more and better paper appeared. The prevailing trends of reading, copying and collecting books in the Jin Dynasty all benefited from paper. The popularity and promotion of paper. The craze for copying scriptures, the craze for collecting books, and the high price of paper in Luoyang due to the spread of Zuo Si's "Sandu Fu" are all unprecedented sights that have emerged after the popularization of paper.

The invention of printing

Since the advent of paper, with the development of economy and culture, more and more people are reading, and the demand for books has also greatly increased.

In the early years of the Jin Dynasty, the government had two books Nineteen thousand nine hundred and forty-five volumes. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Emperor Yuan of Liang had more than 70,000 volumes of books in Jiangling, and the Jiaze Hall of the Sui Dynasty had 370,000 volumes. This is the highest collection record of the National Library in ancient China.

In addition to government collections, there are also more and more private collections. For example, Mrs. Guo of the Jin Dynasty had five thousand volumes of books; when Zhang Hua moved, he used thirty vehicles just to move the books.

Before the invention of printing, only the government and rich people like Mrs. Guo and Zhang Hua could have such a large collection of books. It was not easy for ordinary people to get one or two books, because the books at that time were all handwritten copies. How much manpower is needed to copy so many manuscripts! If this situation does not change, how can we meet the needs of society?

History

There are often situations in history: a scientific invention will appear very quickly as long as society urgently needs it and there are material conditions to produce it. This is the case with the emergence of engraving and printing.

Before the advent of woodblock printing, seals and rubbings were widely used in society.

There are two types of seals: Yangwen and Yinwen. It is recessed. "If you use a Yang script seal, the black characters on a white background will be printed on the paper, which is very eye-catching. However, the seals are generally small, and the number of words printed is limited after all.

The Yin script is generally used for engraving monuments. , the rubbings are white characters on a black background, which are not eye-catching enough. Moreover, the process of rubbing the stele is relatively complicated, and it is inconvenient to print books. However, rubbing a stele has a big advantage, that is, the area of ​​the stele is relatively large, and it can be rubbed at one time. Print many words.

What if we cut off the long points and make up for the shortcomings, and combine the respective characteristics of the rubbing tablet and the seal? The situation will of course be different.

The working people of our country are making up for the shortcomings in rubbing tablets and seals. Inspired by these two methods of sealing, block printing was invented.

The method of block printing is as follows: saw the wood into pieces of wood, write the words to be printed on thin paper, and then Paste it on the wooden board, and then use a knife to carve it into Yang characters one by one according to the strokes of each character, so that the strokes of each character stand out on the board. After the wooden board is carved, the book can be printed. When printing the book , first use a brush dipped in ink and brush it on the carved board. Then, cover it with free paper on the board. In addition, take a clean brush and lightly brush it on the back of the paper, then take off the paper. One page of the book is printed. After printing page by page, it is bound into a volume, and a book is completed. This printing method is to carve the words on the wooden board and then print it, so everyone calls it " "Block Printing".

When was block printing invented in China? There is no unified opinion among historians on this issue, but most people believe that it was invented in the Tang Dynasty.

At the end of the Sui Dynasty and the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, due to the large-scale peasant uprising, the development of social production was promoted, and cultural undertakings also prospered, objectively creating an urgent need for engraving and printing.

According to According to Shao Jingbang's "Hongjianlu" in the Ming Dynasty: Emperor Taizong's Empress Changsun collected stories about typical women in feudal society and compiled a book called "Nu Zhi". In the tenth year of Zhenguan, Empress Sun died. , someone in the palace sent this book to Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty. After Emperor Taizong saw it, he ordered it to be printed with engraving printing.

The tenth year of Zhenguan was AD 636. "Nu Zhi" The printing date of "" may be this year, or it may be later. This is the earliest engraving mentioned in Chinese literature. Based on the analysis of this data, it may be that people had begun to use engraving printing to print books at that time, so Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty Only then did I think of printing "The Women's Code". The invention of woodblock printing must have been earlier than the publication of "The Women's Code".

By the ninth century, China had already used woodblock printing to print books. It is quite common.

During the Tang Dynasty, there was an outstanding poet named Bai Juyi. He compiled his poems into a collection of poems - "Bai's Changqing Collection" in the twelfth year of the fourth year of Changqing. On the 10th of the month (January 2, 825 AD), Bai Juyi's friend Yuan Zhen wrote a preface to "Bai's Changqing Collection". The preface said: At that time, people "reproduced Mule" of Bai Juyi's poems. They are sold on the street and are like this everywhere.

In the past, people called carved stones "Mule". In the Tang Dynasty, they also called carved stones "Mule". The "Mule" here The two words mean engraving and printing.

There is also a record in the "Old Tang Book" that in December of the ninth year of Yamato (AD 835), Emperor Wenzong of the Tang Dynasty ordered all regions not to engrave and print almanacs without permission. What is going on? According to records in other ancient books, the situation is as follows: At that time, the people of Jiannan, Liangchuan and Huainan Road used woodblock printing to print almanacs and sold them on the street. Every year, Si Tiantai, who was in charge of the calendar, also There was no petition for the issuance of a new calendar, but the new calendars printed by the common people were everywhere. The promulgation of calendars was the prerogative of feudal emperors. In order to maintain the prestige of the court, Feng Su, the governor of Dongchuan, petitioned to ban the private publication of almanacs. Relationship between almanacs When it comes to agricultural production, farmers are in great need. How can an order prohibit it? Although Emperor Wenzong of the Tang Dynasty issued this order, folk printed almanacs are still popular everywhere. Even in the same area, there are more than one private printing almanacs.

During the Huang Chao uprising, Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty fled to Sichuan in panic. The emperor also fled. Of course, there was no one to manage the ban on the almanac. Therefore, the people of Jiangdong took it upon themselves to

Almanacs were compiled and sold for sale. In the first year of Zhonghe reign of Emperor Xizong of the Tang Dynasty (AD 881), there was a dispute between the almanacs printed by two people and the difference between the bigger and smaller month by one day. When a local official found out, he said: "We are all doing business together, so what does it matter if there is a difference of one and a half days?" How can the almanac be one day different? What the local official said is really laughable. This incident tells us that in Jiangdong alone, There are at least two printing almanacs.

Liu Pi, who fled to Sichuan with Emperor Xizong of Tang Dynasty at that time, also said in the preface of his "Family Instructions" that he saw a lot of information about Yin and Yang in bookstores in Chengdu. , miscellaneous notes, dream divination and other aspects of books. Most of these books were engraving printing. It can be seen that the printing industry in Chengdu was relatively developed at that time, not only printing almanacs, but also printing various other books.

The Tang Dynasty engraved Of the books that have been preserved, there is only one "Diamond Sutra" that was printed in the ninth year of Xiantong. The ninth year of Xiantong was 868 AD, which is more than a thousand years ago. What is the printing of this thousand years ago? What about the ones that have been preserved? There is another story here.

There is Mingsha Mountain in the southeast of Dunhuang, Gansu Province. As early as the Jin Dynasty, some Buddhists opened caves here, carved Buddha statues, and built buildings. Temples and caves continued to increase, and so did the number of Buddha statues. People called this place the "Thousand Buddha Cave". In 1900, when a Taoist priest Wang was repairing the cave, he accidentally discovered a sealed dark room and opened it. Look, it's filled with bundles of paper scrolls, many of which are books copied in the Tang Dynasty, and one is the "Diamond Sutra" engraved in the Tang Dynasty.

This "Diamond Sutra" "Sutra" is about one foot six feet long and one foot high. It is a scroll made of seven printed sheets. There is a painting at the beginning of the volume, which depicts the mythical story of Sakyamuni preaching to his disciples, with a vivid expression. It is the full text of the "Diamond Sutra". There is not a single line of text in the volume, indicating that it was printed in the ninth year of Xiantong.

This book is the earliest existing woodblock printing book in the world. The pictures are also carved on one piece. The full page may be the earliest printmaking in the world.

In the Five Dynasties, there was a feudal bureaucrat named Feng Dao. He served as a high official in four dynasties in just five dynasties. He was a despicable and shameless guy. He saw that people in Jiangsu, Sichuan and other places were selling printed books of all kinds, but there were no Confucian classics, so he suggested to the emperor in the third year of Changxing's reign in the later Tang Dynasty that Confucian classics should be printed with engravings.

At that time, Japan printed nine kinds of scriptures, which went through four dynasties. It was not until the third year of Guangshun in the later Zhou Dynasty that it took twenty-two years to carve them all.

Because this time the books were carved The influence was relatively large. Later, some people even believed that printing was invented by Feng Dao during the Five Dynasties. This was of course wrong.

In the Song Dynasty, the printing industry became more developed, and books were engraved all over the country. In the early Northern Song Dynasty, In 2000, the Tripitaka was printed in Chengdu, costing 130,000 yuan; the Imperial College, the central educational institution of the Northern Song Dynasty government, printed books on the history of scriptures, costing more than 100,000 yuan. From these two figures, we can see that the printing industry at that time The scale is huge. There are more than 700 books printed on woodblocks in the Song Dynasty that are now known, and the fonts are neat, simple and beautiful. They have been recognized by the people of our country since then.

The woodblock printing in the Song Dynasty is generally Wooden plates are mostly used for engraving, but some people also use copper plates for engraving. The Shanghai Museum has a collection of copper plates used for printing advertisements by the "Jinan Liujia Kungfu Needle Shop" in the Northern Song Dynasty, which shows that the technology of engraving copper plates was also mastered at that time.

Speaking of seals When making books, woodblock printing is indeed a great creation. For a book, you only need to carve the wooden board once, and you can print many volumes, which is many times faster than writing by hand.

But with this method , to print a kind of book, you have to carve a wooden board once, which still costs a lot of labor, and it is impossible to print books quickly and in large quantities. Some books have a lot of words, and it often takes many years to carve them. What if the book cannot be printed once? If it is reprinted again, then the well-carved wooden board will be completely useless.

Is there any way to improve it?

In the middle of the eleventh century (the Qingli period of Song Renzong), our country An inventor named Bi Sheng finally invented a more advanced printing method - movable type printing, which greatly improved our country's printing technology.

Bi Sheng used clay to make square shapes. A long cylinder is engraved with single characters on one side and then hardened with fire. This is a movable type one by one. When printing a book, an iron plate is prepared in advance, and things like rosin and wax are placed on the iron plate. There is an iron frame around it, and the iron frame is densely packed with movable type. The iron frame is filled with one plate, and then it is baked under the iron plate with fire to melt the rosin and wax.

In addition, use a flat plate to press on the arranged movable type to flatten the words, and a movable type plate will be arranged. It is the same as the engraving plate. Just apply ink on the words and you can print.

In order to improve efficiency, he prepared two iron plates and organized two people to work at the same time, one plate for printing and the other for typesetting. When the first plate was printed, the second plate was ready. The two iron plates alternated with each other. After using it, the printing was very fast.

Bi Sheng engraved several words of each word. When he engraved more than 20 commonly used characters, he would engrave them temporarily and burn them with fire. It's done, it's very convenient. After printing, you can heat the iron plate on the fire to melt the rosin and wax, remove the movable type, and it can be used next time.

This is the earliest invention. Movable type printing. This kind of clay movable type is called clay movable type. Although the second printing method invented by Bi Sheng is very primitive compared with today's, the three main steps of movable type printing - making movable type, typesetting and printing, are all Already have it. Therefore, Bi Sheng's contribution to printing is very remarkable. Shen Kuo, a famous scientist in the Northern Song Dynasty, specifically recorded Bi Sheng's invention of movable type printing in his "Mengxi Bi Tan".

After Bi Sheng invented movable type printing, the Korean people began to use clay movable type and other methods to print books, and later used wooden movable type to print books. In the 13th century, they first invented the use of copper movable type to print books. Our country uses copper movable type to print books than Korea was a little later. The Korean people also created lead movable type, iron movable type, etc.

At the end of the 16th century, Japan invaded Korea and robbed a lot of Korea's copper movable type and wooden movable type. As a result, the Japanese also Learned movable type printing.

my country’s printing technology was also spread to Vietnam. In the 15th century, Vietnam began to use woodblock printing to print books. In the early 18th century, they also began to use wooden movable type. Printed books.

The emergence of European printing was also deeply influenced by our country’s printing.

During the Yuan Dynasty, many Europeans came to China. They saw the Yuan Dynasty government The printed banknotes can be used instead of gold and silver, which is very novel. In their travel notes, they recorded Chinese banknotes in great detail.

Many of the Europeans who came to China at that time lived in Hangzhou and other places. There are many bookstores in Hangzhou, and the engraving workers are also very skilled. Some Europeans have lived there for several years, so it is natural for them to bring printing back to Europe.