The invention of metal type was originally clear, and some people in South Korea arbitrarily tailored it for utilitarian purposes. After many years of preparation, they asked UNESCO to confirm its right to invent metal movable type, and to clarify its early stage. Metal movable type printing is listed as a world cultural heritage, which cannot but attract the attention of the people. Based on the scientific methods of thinking and from the reality of objective reality, the author tries to prove that metal movable characters originated in China from the early records of Chinese and Korean metal movable type and the material and technical conditions of the era of Chinese metal movable type invention.
I. Early records of Korean metal type
According to records in Korea, the bronze word for North Korea is called "cast", which began to be printed in the 13th century. The record states that: In 1234, Jin Yanggong (Prime Minister) Cui Yi (1195-1247) printed 28 copies of “Detailed Religious Writing†in Jianghua Island. In 1239, Choi's reprinting of the "Song of Nanming Calligraphy" was a re-engraving, meaning that this type of script was still earlier than 1239, and after that time it was printed for about 200 years and was lost. The earliest extant Korean typeface is the metal movable type printed in 1377 in Seokchon, Seocheon, Cheongju. The copy of "The Buddhist Monk in Baiyun Directly refers to the Mind and Body Festival" is the existing National Library of Paris.
The massive casting of the peninsula began with Lee North Korea. In the 11th year (1403) of Emperor Taizong (1393-1410), he was placed in a caster's office, and cast 100,000 words in the Song Dynasty script. Sejong (1419-1450) made the “Gengzi character†in the 2nd year (1420); 16 years (1434) ordered Li Yu to reform the word and create the “word of Jiajiâ€; in the 18th year (1436), he cast the word “Bingchenâ€. The extra large lead characters are printed in a “leader's guide†with lead and copper characters together. In addition, it also created a unique iron movable type, printed in "West slope set", "Lu Ling Zhi", "alcohol 庵 set." The method of casting is similar to the Chinese ancient coins, seals, and Bi Sheng, and Wang Biao’s living type method: first engrave the wood type, and then make a fine sand anti-mold, inject the molten casting liquid into the hole, and cool it with a chisel; When the word is reformed, the wax is not used, and the sheet is used as the boundary. The empty word is clamped with a wooden wedge to prevent the movable character from moving. For a long time since then, North Korea has been printing heavy metal movable type and has cast a large amount of movable type. According to the information provided by the friend of the East Asian printing history in Sweden, Mr. Ai Siren (American), the North Korean founder of the metal movable characters such as copper, iron, and lead has reached 34 times. Except for three private castings, the rest were cast by the government. According to Koreans such as Sun Baoji and Qian Huifeng, North Korea has about 40 metal movable characters cast. The statistics of the Lishi royal family from the beginning of the 15th century to the middle of the 19th century, the casting of copper characters in about 260 years, indicating that the government attaches great importance to the printing industry, its printed books are increasingly exquisite, but also has a collection of artistic value.
Second, Chinese metal type was invented in the Song Dynasty
The invention of Chinese printing technology experienced the engraving of the early Tang Dynasty and developed into movable type printing in the Song Dynasty. 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, the use of the same printing principles for printing materials and word-making process innovations is not an invention in the full sense. It should be called improvement, but in a broad sense, it can also be called an invention.
According to the literature records and the existing early printed texts, the author argued that non-metallic movable characters such as wood and movable characters were invented in the Northern Song Dynasty, and metallic movable characters such as tin movable characters and copper movable characters were also invented in the Northern Song Dynasty. In the following centuries, wood, clay, tin, copper, and the type of creatures that were created have been used alternately. Because China is a vast country with a large population and a large amount of books, the role of metal type in social life cannot be ignored.
The metal type was invented in the Song Dynasty based on:
Wang Yuan (1260-1330), a scientist of the Yuan Dynasty, talks about “Creating a Calligraphy for Printing and Printing†(1298): “In the modern world, tin was also used as a character, and iron was used to carry out the work. It was embedded in a helmet and the line was printed. The book, but the above words, it is difficult to make ink, the rate of more bad, so it can not be a long time." This is our country's early record of metal type. In the early days of Yuan Dynasty, what the people said was of course the Song Dynasty. It was stated that the use of tin for movable printing was in the Song Dynasty. From non-metal type to metal type, it is a major reform in printed materials and craftsmanship.
2 The Qing Dynasty book collector Sun Congtian (1769-1840) contained in the “Collection of Books†(18lO): “The engraving of the copper word and the type of movable type in the Song Dynastyâ€. It is clear that there is a copper movable book in the Song Dynasty.
Its evidence1, Ming "Menglin Xuanjie" (North map of Chongzheng) reproduced Song SunShuang article, the text has "Gold brush brushing, universal public" ... "Jingyou three years in April on the elderly off Sun Sy At the end of Yu Yuan’s secret strategy.†Mr. Zhang Xiumin, an expert in the famous print history, thinks that the gold gilt should be gilded in copper. It is believed that the “secret plan†of the Indian version is printed in eight volumes, and the possibility of engraving copper is most likely. The term "copper as gold" has been used for many generations. The author believes that the analysis of sheet metal should be correct. For the first reason, Jingyou's three-year production of gold mine in 1036 was 15,000, which was 15,000 jins, and the current year’s copper production was 5.1 million. With a surplus of 8 pounds, the disparity in the ratio of gold and copper has determined that it is impossible for the Northern Song Dynasty to use precious rare gold nuggets for carving books; for the second reason, gold is soft and not suitable for making movable type. Moreover, the smelting techniques of the Northern Song Dynasty reached the peak of history. It is entirely possible to use copper movable type printing on a large number of books. The "Principles of Garden Dreams" was 198 years earlier than the "Detailed Religion" of North Korea in 1234, 340 years earlier than the "Direction" of North Korea in 1377, and it was even five years earlier than the clay sculpture that was contemporaneously promoted.
The appearance of the copper and copper and tin books in the Song Dynasty proved that this analysis can be established. In the first two years of the printing of the "secret plan", that is, in 1034, the government issued the order of "receiving government funds, accepting sub-sub-fortunes, collecting copper plates, and not creating them." It can also be traced back to the bronze edition of the Tang Dynasty. The Baoji City Museum contains 813-year-old bronze statues of the Tang Dynasty Buddha.
Five generations of copper plated prints further confirmed the authenticity of the invention of metal movable type in the Song Dynasty. During the Ming Jingtai period Jinshi Yang Shouchen said in Zhu Xi Jing Yi Kao: “Jin Tianfu (936-943) has copper plates and nine classics, all of which can be printed on ink and ink, without writing.†Tian Fu copper plate in Song Yuelu (1183- In the case of the "Nine Classics of the Nine Scriptures and the Three Classics" mentioned in 1234), the evidence clearly shows this. Many historians believe that the Nine Scriptures have more than 400,000 words. It is impossible to engrave such a vast project on copperplates. Tianfu Copperplate may be copper movable type. Taking a step back, he said that this type of copper was originally a lonely book. The material and technical conditions at that time were not fully equipped with the typeface. However, the five generations of printed copperplates were a powerful impetus for the invention of metal movable type in the Song Dynasty.
According to corroboration, 2, Jin Huangtong, Wu Chen (1148), Pingyang Prefecture, Li Shi made the bronze medals on both sides of the Buddha, which are copper movable characters. According to the word is skewed. The author believes that the smelting industry of the Jin Dynasty has surpassed the Northern Song Dynasty in both modeling and craftsmanship. The Song Dynasty was already available in the Song Dynasty, so the Jin Dynasty in the same period as the Song Dynasty also had the technical conditions for the appearance of copper movable type. This was 86 years earlier than the 1234 North Korea's "Detailed Religion," and 229 years earlier than North Korea's "Direction" in 1377.
As evidenced by the fact that in the article “Mr. Jin Hua Huang†made by Yuan Renhuai (1277-1357), there is a piece of “North Stream Yan Gong Ta Ming†written by Zhi Yan’s monk, and Yingzong (1320-1323) prepared in 1333 in three years. "Bronze copper is a version of the book." Before the publication, Chao Renzong rewarded the Jinyin Buddha Buddhist scriptures of the Chih-Yeon monk, and later ordered the Yongfu Temple and the Zhuxun Summarizing School to survey the Three Kingdoms. Unfortunately, the early death of Yingzong Zong failed to materialize. However, it shows that the copper type printing technique of printing Buddhist scriptures survived as early as 1320, and it is 57 years earlier than the "Direct Guidance" of North Korea in 1377.
The above-mentioned facts prove that metal movable type was invented in the Song Dynasty and is in the same era as the invention of non-metal movable type.
The large-scale production and popularization of copper movable type was in the Hongzhi, Zhengde and Jiajing periods of the Ming Dynasty (between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries). The most famous ones are Wujia and Anjia, which have a large number of printed books. There are also many down. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, there were records of lead-type printing. The most influential in the Qing dynasty was the “Wu Ying Dian movable type edition.†The most famous copy of the Inner House copper movable type book was “Kin Dinh Ancient and Modern Book Integration†(66 volumes, 10,000 volumes each, 160 million characters, divided into 5,020 volumes. Great book with 522 letters.) Although the number of copperplate books in the Qing Dynasty was not as large as that of the Ming Dynasty, the scope of the popularity and the exquisiteness of the cast were all higher than those of the Ming Dynasty.
III. Material and technical conditions for the invention of metal movable type in the Song Dynasty
The invention and development of any science and technology can not be separated from the social and historical conditions of the times. The Song Dynasty possessed the necessary conditions for the invention of metal movable type:
1 The governments at all levels from the central government to the local governments in the Song Dynasty paid more attention to education. With the development of education, the demand for books has greatly increased, so that the printing industry has a vast market; the prosperity of various works provides a large number of sources for printing; the implementation of incentives and open policies for folk printing further promotes the development of the printing industry. In the Song dynasty, the number of printed books reached the historical peak, and the paper and ink were excellent, the fonts were beautiful, the proofreading was rigorous, and the layout was relaxed and pleasing to the eye. Both the writing art and the engraving techniques reached a mature state. Especially in the country's three major printing industry centers in Hangzhou, in the past 200 years, they have been at peace, avoiding the destruction of the scourge of war. The printing industry has become the highest in the country. Bi Sheng and a group of carving and printing artisans face the demand for books, which may be in short supply. Learn from craftsmanship to create more convenient and quick print jobs.
The predecessor of 2 movable type is imprint, model and extension. The ancient Chinese working people have long-term practice of casting, casting, mirroring, and casting Buddha statues. On this basis, it is entirely possible to create advanced printing methods—metal movable type. They were engraved with seals of many characters and impressed by the engraved printing of the invention. They thought that printing the seals of a single word together could be improved to a movable type. Luo Zhenyu, a member of the People's Congress of the People's Liberation Army of China, was in "Liao Jue" and "Xu's Ancient Qiang Money Spectra". When he talked about the invention of movable type, he also mentioned that "printing is on printing." Before the Qin Dynasty, during the Warring States Period, Yan Guo (now Yi County, Hebei Province) discovered the copper seals, and the Chinese had copper seals. After the Six Dynasties, Zhu Wen was popular. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, six pattern stamps were used to synthesize copper plated banknotes and imitations. Single, this kind of technique that uses a plurality of small printing plates to print and print the entire printed matter is the prototype of the later copper movable type. The model of ancient artifacts is the bronze pottery unearthed from the Yin Ruins of Anyang, Henan, which is a mold that molds or molds text. Qing Cai Cheng and Zhang Tingji all mentioned "book gardens." Copper, square one, two inches, class copper seal, chiseled against the poetry of the poem "Easy and law, poetry is right and wrong, strict spring and autumn, Zuo Shi exaggerated", fourteen words, thought it was the beginning of the Song Dynasty or the Five Dynasties Used as a model for engraving books.
In the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Sui dynasty, there was a method for the writing of 摹 摹 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,. Seal printing is also a prerequisite for movable type printing.
3 The abundance of metal ore and high level of smelting technology provide 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 metallurgical industry was much higher than the Tang Dynasty in both output and smelting technology. From the output point of view, the fastest increase in mineral production is copper, lead and tin. Taizong to the end of the year (997) produced 4.12 million kilograms of copper, 79,000 kilograms of lead, and 260,000 kilograms of tin. In the first year of Shenzong (1078), the output of these three metal mines skyrocketed, with 14.6 million kilograms of copper, 9.19 million kilograms of lead, and 232 million kilograms of tin.
From the smelting technology point of view, the first is the promotion of biliary copper immersion. The gallbladder water is shy, and Shen Kuo records the advanced technology of copper smelting made by workers in the Qishan County, Xinzhou, using iron pans to “courage†(in fact, the timidity is no need for squeezing, and the iron can be used to replace the simple copper). This method of smelting copper has been invented in the Western Han Dynasty, and large-scale application to actual production is in the middle of the Northern Song Dynasty. The mass production of copper promoted major innovations in the printing industry.
The above-mentioned social needs for the development of the printing industry, the maturity of various technical conditions, and the abundance and massive exploitation of metal mineral deposits have provided a solid foundation and conditions for the invention of the copper movable type in the Song Dynasty.
In short, from the early literature records and physical comparisons between Chinese and Korean metal living characters, it was confirmed that China was decades to several centuries ahead of South Korea, and the issue of ownership of metal movable type inventions was naturally resolved. The right to invent the metal type is China. The Chinese nation has made great contributions to the development of world civilization. Just as the famous British scientist Joseph Needham said: "If we don't have such contribution (the Chinese people's outstanding contribution to science and technology in the past), we cannot have the entire development process of our Western civilization. Because if there is no gunpowder, paper, printing, and magnetic needles, the disappearance of European feudalism is an unimaginable thing." Of course, we do not deny the wisdom and contributions of the ancient Korean working people. Their prints are pleasing to the eye and some even exceed China. However, it is advisable to discuss the history of this technology.