以紙為媒

Papermedia

活字印刷術(shù)

Movable typeprinting

欽定武英殿聚珍版程式

Pattern of the imperial Wuying Palace precious collection edition

“慶歷中有布衣畢昇又為活板。其法用膠泥刻字，薄如錢唇，每字為一印，火燒令堅(jiān)。……乃密布字印，滿鐵范為一板?！Ｗ鞫F板，一板印刷，一板已自布字，此印者才畢，則第二板已具，更互用之，瞬息可就?！?——《夢(mèng)溪筆談》卷十八During the reign of Chingli[1041－1048 A.D.Song Dynasty],Bi Sheng made movable type.His method was as follows:he took sticky clay and cut in it characters as thin as the edge of a coin.Each character formed,as it were,a single type.He baked them in the fire to make them hard.…When he wished to print,he took an iron frame and set it on the iron plate.In this he placed the types,set close together.When the frame was full,the whole made one solid block of type.…He had prepared two iron plates.One was for printing and the other was for typesetting.When the printing was finished,the typesetting was also completed and the exchange was held alternatively.——The Dream Pool Essays,Vol.18

秦代推行文字標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化為中華文明的傳承與發(fā)展奠定了基礎(chǔ)，數(shù)百年間，記錄文字的載體由殷商時(shí)代的甲骨、鐘鼎及于碑石、簡(jiǎn)帛。漢代蔡倫發(fā)明造紙術(shù)、東晉末年桓楚政權(quán)詔令以黃紙代替竹簡(jiǎn)，開(kāi)啟了中華民族以紙為媒的出版?zhèn)鞑シ绞?。與此相隨，延至佛教興盛與科舉制推行的隋唐，圖文復(fù)制方法也結(jié)出了碩果——人們藉由雕版印刷逐漸擺脫了書(shū)、拓石與抄寫(xiě)的勞頓……

Through standardization of Chinese characters,Qin Dynasty had laid the foundation for the heritage and development of Chinese civilization.During hundreds of years,the media of Chinese characters evolved from oracle and tripod of Shang Dynasty to bamboo monuments and silk.During Han Dynasty,Cai Lun invented the technology of papermaking.The Huanchu regime of Jin Dynasty published notification in paper media in place of bamboo,which marked the beginning of paper media in history.With the rise of Buddhism and Civil Examinations in Sui Dynasty and TangDynasty,Chinese peoplemade great progress in technology of graphic copy.By woodblock printing,people gradually extricated themselves from the tedious labor of transcribing.

龜甲卜辭

東漢石刻

漢初木犢簡(jiǎn)冊(cè)

Subsequently in Song Dynasty,Bi Sheng accelerated the dissemination of publication technology.Based on the previous experiences,he invented the technology of movable type printing.According to the Dream Pool Essays written by Shen Kuo,the technology of movable type printing included the technology of making,composing,pressing,decomposition and storage of the types.Compared with woodblock printing,movable type printing had successfully applied standardization methods and principles,such as:standardized items,interchangeable items,decomposition and combination,as well as reuse.It boasted flexibility,convenience and simplicity,which had greatly enhanced the utilization of the single characters type.

中國(guó)印刷博物館展出的轉(zhuǎn)輪排字盤(pán)模型

泥活字

雖然手工活字印刷是極具現(xiàn)代印刷術(shù)特點(diǎn)的高效傳媒，但它卻遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超出傳統(tǒng)中國(guó)社會(huì)的消化能力——其固定字體與國(guó)人對(duì)書(shū)法和色彩的審美追逐背道而馳，動(dòng)輒數(shù)十萬(wàn)刻制字模使民間投資力不從心，需求不足又造成規(guī)模效益無(wú)法彰顯。因此延至清代雍正乾隆年間中國(guó)才出現(xiàn)了《古今圖書(shū)集成》、《武英殿聚珍版叢書(shū)》等銅活字、木活字大規(guī)模官方出版活動(dòng)，而這一時(shí)期頒布的《欽定武英殿聚珍版程式》也成為木活字印刷技術(shù)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)的典范。

However,despite being highly efficient and modernized,movable type printing went beyond the traditional Chinese society’s value that time because of the opposite of aesthetic of traditional calligraphy.High cost discouraged the private investment and it was hard to form the economies of scale because of lack of demand.Many years later,official publications had become widespread in Qing Dynasty,including Collection of Ancient and Modern Books,Wuying Palace Precious Collection Series.Pattern of the imperial Wuying Palace precious collection edition had been the model of wood movable type printing technology at that time.

欽定武英殿聚珍版程式圖

中國(guó)傳統(tǒng)活字印刷術(shù)的興衰與中華民族的命運(yùn)息息相關(guān)，它最終在近代殖民炮火的硝煙中，讓位于更具先進(jìn)性的西方機(jī)械鉛活字印刷。盡管就以上兩種印刷技術(shù)之間是否存在承襲關(guān)系，學(xué)術(shù)界至今仍有爭(zhēng)議，但確切無(wú)疑的是中國(guó)早于西方四百年發(fā)明了活字印刷術(shù)，樹(shù)立了標(biāo)準(zhǔn)化發(fā)展史上的里程碑，大大推進(jìn)了手工業(yè)時(shí)代技術(shù)進(jìn)步?；钭钟∷⑿g(shù)與造紙術(shù)的雙劍合璧，開(kāi)創(chuàng)了人類文化傳播史新紀(jì)元。

The rise and fall of the traditional Chinese movable type printing had been closely related to the destiny of Chinese nation.Eventually,the traditional Chinese typography technology was replaced by Western machinery type printing during the colonial era.In spite of dispute in academia over the inherited relationship between the two kinds of printing,it is certain that Chinese people invented movable type printing four centuries earlier than westerners,which set the milestone in the history of standardization and boosted the technical progress in the handicraft industry era.The combination of typography and papermaking technology created a new era of human history of cultural communication.