Historical history evidence and technical conditions for the invention of metal movable type in China
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The invention of metal movable type was originally clear, and some people in South Korea arbitrarily tailored it for utilitarian purposes. After years of preparation, it asked UNESCO to confirm its right to invent metal type and to declare its early Metal movable type prints are listed as world cultural heritage, which cannot but attract the attention of the Chinese people. Based on the scientific method of thinking, the author tries to find out from the early literatures on the movable type of metal in China and South Korea, the material and technical conditions of the era of Chinese metal movable type, which prove that metal movable type originated in China.
I. Early documentary records of Korean metal type
According to the Korean literature, the Korean copper type is called "casting", and it began to be printed in the 13th century. According to the record: In 1234, Jinyang Gong (the prime minister) Cui Yi (1195-1247) printed 28 copies of the "detailed gift" in Jianghua Island. In 1239, Cui's re-engraving of the word "Nanming Zhengdao Song" was re-engraved, meaning that the typeface was earlier than 1239. After that time, it was printed in Bisheng type for about 200 years. The earliest surviving word in Korea is the metal type in the 1377 Qingzhou Muxingde Temple. The "Baiyun monk transcribed the Buddha directly refers to the heart and mind festival", and the existing National Library of Paris.
The large-scale casting of the peninsula began with Li’s North Korea. Taizong (1393-1410) 11 years (1403) was set to cast the word, according to the Song style font cast 100,000 words, called "癸不字". In the 2nd year of Shizong (1419-1450) (1420), he created the "Gengzizi"; in 16 years (1434) he ordered Li Wei to improve the casting of the word and created the "Kaizi word"; in 18 years (1436), he also cast the "Bingchen character". The extra large typeface is printed in a "lead list" of lead and copper. In addition, it created a unique iron type, which was printed as "Xipoji", "Lulingzhi" and "Alcohol Collection". Its casting method is similar to the ancient Chinese founding copper coins, seals and Bi Sheng, Wang Hao's movable character method: first carved wood font, then do fine sand reverse mold, inject the molten casting liquid into the hole, cool and use the chisel to repair; Sejong When the casting is improved, the wax is not used, and the thin sheet is used as the boundary. The empty word is clamped by the wooden wedge to prevent the movable type from moving. For a long time after that, North Korea focused on metal type printing and cast a large number of movable characters. According to the information provided by Mr. Ai Siren (American), a Swedish friend of East Asian printing history, the North Korean found copper, iron, lead and other metal type letters have been 34 times, except for three times for private casting, the rest are cast by the government. According to Korean Sun Baoji, Qian Huifeng and others, North Korea has cast a total of 40 times of metal type. According to statistics, the Lee family has cast more than 2 million bronze characters in the 260 years from the beginning of the 15th century to the middle of the 19th century. This shows that the government attaches great importance to the printing industry, and its prints are increasingly exquisite and pleasing, and they also have a collection of artistic value.
2. the Chinese metal type is invented in the Song Dynasty
The invention of Chinese printing has gone through the engraving and printing of the early Tang Dynasty and developed into movable type printing in the Song Dynasty. The improvement techniques and optimization processes performed from engraving to movable type printing are collectively referred to as inventions. From non-metallic type to metal type, using the same printing principle to carry out innovations in printing materials and word-making processes is not a complete invention. It should be called improvement, but in a broad sense, it can also be called invention.
According to the literature and the existing early prints, the authors believe that the non-metallic movable characters such as wood type characters and mud type characters were invented in the Northern Song Dynasty, and the metal type characters such as tin type and copper type are also invented in the Northern Song Dynasty. In the hundreds of years since then, the type of wood, mud, tin, and copper have been used alternately. Because China has a vast territory, a large population, and a large demand for books, the role of metal type in social life cannot be ignored.
The basis for the invention of metal type in the Song Dynasty was:
The 1st generation scientist Wang Wei (1260-1330) said in the book "Creating the Word Printing and Calligraphy" (1298): "The modern world casts the tin and makes the word, and it is made of iron, and it is embedded in the helmet. The book, but the words on the previous item, it is difficult to make the ink, the rate is more than bad, so it can't be done for a long time." This is the early record of metal type in China. The modern world mentioned by the Yuan Dynasty was of course in the Song Dynasty, indicating that the printing of the type of tin in the Song Dynasty was in the Song Dynasty. From non-metallic type to metal type, it is a major reform in printing materials and word-making.
2 The Qing dynasty writer Sun Congtian (1769-1840) contained in the "Collection of Books" (18lO): "There are bronze scripts and living characters in the Song Dynasty." Ming clearly stated that there was a copper type in the Song Dynasty.
The evidence 1 shows that Ming Lin Xuan Jie (Northern Tibet Chongzhen) reprints Song Sunshuang's article. There are At the end of Yuyuan Dream's secret strategy." Mr. Zhang Xiumin, a famous printing history expert, believes that Jin Jin should be a copper enamel, thinking that the printing of "Dream Secret Strategy" to eight volumes is the most likely to engrave copper type. The title of “taking copper as the gold” has become a custom in the past. The author thinks that the analysis of sheet metal should be correct. For the first reason, Jingyou’s three-year gold mining output in 1036 was 15,000 thousand, or 1,500 kilograms, and the copper output of that year was 5.1 million. Zero 8 kilograms, such a disparity in the proportion of gold and copper, determined that the Northern Song Dynasty could not use rare precious gold nuggets for engraving books; the second reason is that gold is soft and not suitable for making movable type. Moreover, the smelting technology of the Northern Song Dynasty reached a historical peak, and it was entirely possible to print a large number of works in copper type. "The Dream of the Garden" is 198 years earlier than the "Detailed Ceremony" of North Korea in 1234, 340 years earlier than the "Direct Finger" of North Korea in 1377, even five years earlier than the plastic muddy type invented by Bi Sheng.
The appearance of the copper plate banknotes and the copper and tin book editions of the Song Dynasty proves that this analysis can be established. In the first two years of the printing of the "Dream of Dreams", that is, in 1034, the government issued an order to "receive the capital, replace the party. Receive the copper version, do not make it" (the source of the copper plate). It can be traced back to the copper book edition of the Tang Dynasty. The Baoji City Museum houses the 813-year-old bronze statue of the Tang Dynasty.
The bronze seal of the Five Dynasties confirms the authenticity of the invented metal type in the Song Dynasty. Ming Jingtai's scholar Yang Shouchen said in the "Zhu Shi Jingyi": "Jin Tianfu (936-943) has a copper version of the nine classics, all of which can be printed on paper and ink, without writing." Tianfu copper plate in Song Renyue (1183- 1234) mentioned in the "Jiu Jing San Chuan Evolution", the certificate clearly has this matter. Many historians believe that there are more than 400,000 words in the Jiujing. It is impossible to engrave such a huge project on the copper plate. The Tianfu copper plate may be a copper type. Taking a step back and saying that this type of copper type is a lonely one, the material and technical conditions at that time were not fully equipped with the typeface, but the bronze version of the printed version in the fifth generation was a powerful impetus for the invention of the metal type in the Song Dynasty.
Corrobor 2, Jin Huangtong Wuchen (1148) Pingyang House Lishui made a thousand bronze medals on both sides of the bronze text. According to the word body skew. The author thinks that the smelting industry of Jin Dynasty has surpassed the Northern Song Dynasty in terms of styling and craftsmanship. In the Song Dynasty, the bronze type was published, so the Jin Dynasty, which was also in the same period as the Song Dynasty, certainly possessed the technical conditions for the appearance of the copper type. This is 86 years earlier than the 1223 North Korean "Detailed Ceremony", 229 years earlier than the 1377 North Korean "Direct Finger".
Supporting 3, the "Han Hua Huang's Anthology" by Yuan Huangqi (1277-1357) has a "Beixi Yangong Ta Ming" for Zhiyan monk, saying that Yingzong (1320-1323) was prepared for three years, that is, 1323. Before the publication of the Bronze Bronze Edition, the Emperor Renzong rewarded the Jinyu Buddha statue of the Zhiyan monk, and later ordered the Yongfu Temple and the Zunjue to investigate the Sanzang. It is not possible to realize the early death of Yingzong. However, the copper type technology that printed the Buddhist scriptures existed before 1320, and it was 57 years earlier than the 1377 North Korean "Direct Finger".
The facts described above prove that the metal type was invented in the Song Dynasty and was in the same era as the invention of non-metal type.
The large-scale production and popularization of the copper type is in the Hongzhi, Zhengde and Jiajing years of the Ming Dynasty (the turn of the fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries), the most famous of which is the Huajia and Anjia of Wuxi, which have a large number of printed books. There are also many down. The Ming and Qing dynasties also recorded the creation of lead type. The most influential in the Qing Dynasty was the "Wuying Temple movable type". The most famous inner government copper movable type print was "King's ancient and modern book integration" (there are 66, each 10,000 volumes, 160 million words, divided into 5020 volumes, The great work of the 522 letter). Although the number of copperplate books in the Qing Dynasty was not as good as that of the Ming Dynasty, the popularity of the book and the exquisiteness of the casts exceeded the Ming Dynasty.
3. The material and technical conditions for inventing metal type in the Song Dynasty
The invention and development of any science and technology are inseparable from the social and historical conditions of the times. The Song Dynasty had the necessary conditions for the invention of metal type:
3.1 The government at all levels from the central to the local level in the Song Dynasty paid more attention to education. The development of education, the demand for books has increased greatly, and the printing industry has a broad market; the prosperity of various works has provided a large number of books for printing; the implementation of the incentive and open policy for folk printing has further promoted the development of the printing industry. In the Song Dynasty, not only did the number of printed books reach a historical peak, but also the paper was well-printed, the fonts were beautiful, the collation was rigorous, the layout was pleasing to the eye, and the writing art and engraving skills reached a mature position. In particular, Hangzhou, the country's three major printing industry centers, has been shunned for nearly 200 years, avoiding the destruction of the war, and the printing industry has become the crown of the country. A group of engraving craftsmen such as Bi Sheng are facing the demand for books that are in short supply, and may be common. Studying and crafting, creating a more convenient and fast printing type.
3.2 The predecessor of the movable type is the embossing, the fan model and the extension. The ancient Chinese working people have long-term practice of casting, casting money, casting mirrors, casting Buddha statues, etc. On this basis, it is entirely possible to create an advanced printing method - metal movable type. The seals and imprints that they engraved into many words have inspired the invention of engraving, and the association of stamping individual stamps with stamps can also be improved to the movable type. In the "Liao Jue", "Xu's Ancient Money", in the "Liao Jue", when talking about the movable type of invention, he also mentioned "printing in the seal". The origin of the seal was before the Qin Dynasty. During the Warring States Period, Yan Guo (now Yi County, Hebei Province) discovered copper seals, Han has copper seals, and after the Six Dynasties popular Zhu Wen, in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, six stamps with patterns were combined to form copper-printed paper money and imitation. Single, this technique of using multiple small plates to print into a whole print is the prototype of the later type. The model of ancient artifacts, the bronze pottery pottery unearthed from the Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan, is a mold that casts or casts a pattern of characters. Both Qing Cai Cheng and Zhang Tingji mentioned the "Book Court." Copper, square one, two inches, copper-like printing, chic anti-literature poetry collection "Iqi and law, poetry is right, spring and autumn are strict, Zuo's exaggeration", four sentences and sixteen words, thought it was the Song or the Five Dynasties Used as a model for carving books.
In the Southern and Northern Dynasties and the Sui Dynasty, there was a method of expanding the text. The Dunhuang Thousand Buddha Cave discovered Tang Yongzheng's four-year (653) hot spring Ming. Sealing is also a prerequisite for movable type printing.
3.3 The rich and high-level smelting technology of metal deposits provides material and technical conditions for the invention of metal movable type in the Song Dynasty. The Song Dynasty was rich in copper, and its mining and metallurgy industry was much higher than the Tang Dynasty in terms of output or smelting technology. In terms of output, the fastest increase in minerals is copper, lead and tin. From the end of the Taizong to the end of the road (997), the production of copper was 4.12 million jin, the lead was 790,000 jin, and the tin was 260,000 jin. In the first year of Shenzong (1078), the output of these three metal mines skyrocketed, with copper 14.6 million jin, lead 9.1 million jin, and tin 2.32 million jin.
From the perspective of smelting technology, the first is the promotion of bile water immersion copper. Biliary water is timid, Shen Kuo records that the workers in the lead mountain county of Xinzhou use the iron pot to swear "the timid" (in fact, the timid is not smashed, the iron is placed in the biliary water, it can naturally replace the elemental copper). This method of copper smelting has been invented in the Western Han Dynasty, and the large-scale application in actual production is in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty. The mass production of copper has driven major innovations in the printing industry.
The above-mentioned social needs of the development of the printing industry, the maturity of various technical conditions, and the abundance and extensive mining of metal deposits have provided a solid foundation and conditions for the invention of the copper type in the Song Dynasty.
In short, from the early literature records and physical comparisons of metal movable type between China and South Korea, China has confirmed that the problem of the ownership of metal movable type is naturally solved decades ago. The invention of metal movable type is China. The Chinese nation has made great contributions to the development of world civilization, as the famous British scientist Joseph Lee said: "If there is no such contribution (the Chinese have made outstanding contributions to science and technology in the past), it is impossible to have the entire development process of our Western civilization. Because without gunpowder, paper, printing and magnetic needles, the disappearance of European feudalism is an unimaginable thing."
Of course, we do not deny the wisdom and contribution of the working people of the ancient Korean people. Their prints are pleasing to the eye, and some even exceed China. However, the history of this technology should be based on the reality of objective existence and cannot be forgotten.