Cultural Inheritance of Book Culture - (Illustrated Edition)

Author: Lai Xinxia / Country: Mainland China
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-06-01
Features:
Four, The Significance of Manuscripts
Before the invention of movable-type printing, the transmission of Chinese culture followed a difficult path. People began to write and copy on bamboo slips and silk, and later on paper. According to historical records, copying books was already in practice in the early Western Han Dynasty. During Emperor Jing of Han, Emperor Jing’s son, Liu De, the Prince of Hejian, searched for good books among the people and asked someone to copy a well-preserved copy for the owner, leaving the original with the owner while also offering gold and silk as compensation. Thus, he collected many books. This was undoubtedly a form of bamboo slip writing. During Emperor Cheng of Han, under the leadership of the renowned scholar Liu Xiang, China carried out a large-scale effort to organize books in the history of world culture. Liu Xiang and other scholars wrote a preface for each organized book as a record, which was submitted to the emperor for review. Liu Xiang personally copied one for his own records, while the copies circulated in society. Later, Liu Xiang’s son, Liu Xin, compiled the first comprehensive bibliography of China, the Bie Lu, which was also a bamboo slip manuscript. At that time, a profession known as "book copying" emerged in society. In the ancient novel Shiyijì, it was recorded that Wang Bo, a person from the reign of Emperor An of Han, due to poverty, set up a stall in Luoyang streets selling calligraphy with brushes and bamboo slips. Wang Bo’s beauty attracted many people seeking books, and men gave him clothes while women gave him pearls and jade. In a single day, he earned a full cart of clothes and jewels. This was a form of the "book copying" profession. Although it is a fictional story, it reflects actual life. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Ban Chao, due to poverty, once worked as a book copyist for officials to support his family. During the Three Kingdoms period, the states of Wu and Wei, in their diplomatic activities, organized people to copy two sets of the Dian Lun in paper and silk and sent them to Sun Quan of Wu and Zhang Zhao of Wei to strengthen friendly relations between the two sides. This was a large-scale copying activity. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the monk Chen Zhao, in his early years, worked as a book copyist and took the opportunity to "study extensively through reading historical texts and literature." Later, he participated in the translation of Buddhist scriptures under the famous monk Kumārajīva and was appreciated by the rulers of Later Qin. During the Southern Dynasties, Yu Zhen of the Southern Qi, due to the death of both his parents and his inability to afford a funeral, devoted himself to copying books for others, to the point where his hands became crippled. This shows the arduous nature of copying books. Shen Chongsu of the Southern Liang, who lost his father at the age of six, worked as a book copyist after adulthood to earn money to support his mother. Many book copyists, during the process of copying, had the opportunity to read many books and eventually became scholars. Wang Xunru and Zhu Yi of the Southern Liang were both renowned scholars of their time, and their paths to success were "both earning a living by writing and becoming scholars through book copying." They relied on copying books for others to read extensively through the classics. During the Northern Dynasties, there were also book copyists, such as Cui Liang of Northern Wei, who, due to poverty, worked as a book copyist. With the widespread use of paper and people’s thirst for knowledge, in addition to earning compensation by being hired to copy books, some book vendors also appeared, selling copies of books, even large ones. During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, in Yangzhou, there was a book vendor who hired a group of people to copy a large encyclopedic work, the Huailin Bannlüe, with over 700 volumes, and sold it to the general Gao Cheng of Eastern Wei in the Northern Dynasties. Gao Cheng liked the book but did not want to pay for it. So, he gathered a group of book copyists to secretly copy the entire 700 volumes in one day and night and returned the book to the vendor. This incident, of course, shows Gao Cheng’s cunning, but it also demonstrates that it took a large number of people to copy 700 volumes in one day and night, further indicating the significant number of people engaged in the book copying profession. The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons is a famous literary theory work in China, but after its completion, it did not receive social recognition. Its author, Liu Xie of the Southern Dynasties, hoped that the renowned scholar Shen Yue could evaluate it. However, Shen Yue held a high status and was difficult to meet. So, Liu Xie copied a copy of The Literary Mind and the Carving of Dragons and pretended to be a book vendor, carrying his own work and waiting on the road for Shen Yue’s carriage to pass by to sell it. This indeed attracted Shen Yue’s attention, and after reading it, he greatly admired the value of the book. This was a pitiful action taken by Liu Xie to find an appreciator for his work, but it also reflected that book copying and selling were common activities in society. P26-27