Printing during the Five Dynasty and the Song Dynasty

Printing in the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty

Portrait of the King of the Heaven(engraved by Cao Yuan Zhong in the Five Dynasties)

The printing industry thrived during the Song Dynasty (960---279). Government departments from the central to the local levels engaged in printing activities. The private printing industry expanded, leading to the existence of printing houses throughout the country, and the cre-ation of a few areas of concentration.

All types of texts were printed including Confucian classics, history, philosophy and belles-lettres. The scale of Buddhist publications was considerably larger then ever before. Apart from the printing of books, new items appeared including the printing of paper money and trademark advertisements.

An important revolution in printing technology during the Song Dynasty was the invention of mov-able type printing. A commoner by the name of Bi Sheng used movable-type blocks for printing during the Qingli years (1041---048) of the Northern Song. This invention ushered in an era of movable-type printing and is a significant milestone in the history of printing.

Buddhist Scripture engraved in the kingdoms of Wu and Yue


History of the Song Dynasty (a record about the blocks kept at the Imperial College in early Song)	Ode on Daily Affairs (Printing of the Local government )	The Meaning of Pharmaco-the Local government in the Song Dynasty)	The Book of Rites with Annotations (printing of the local government in the Song Dynasty


Buddhist Scripture of Kaibao Reign (engraved in Chengdu ,Northern Song Dynasty)	Buddhist Scripture Jisha (engraved in Ping Jiang Southern Song Dynasty)	Chronices of the Han Dynasty with Annotations (engraved and printed by Liu Yuan Qi in his own family school in Jianyang , Song Dynasty)


Portrait of Bodhisattva Manjusri (printing of the Five Dynasties)	Exchange Medium(Jiaozi)(a kind of paper money in sichuan Northern Song Dynasty)	Collected Writings by Master Gong (engraved and printed in the Song Dynasty


Collection of Material on the Lives of Emperors and Ministers(engraved and printed in the Southern Song Dynasty)	Check Medium ( Huizi )(paper money in the Southern Song Dynasty)

A collection of poems by Madam Yu Xuan Ji (engraved and printed by the Chen family in Hangzhou, Southern Song Dynasty	Lau's Kong Fu Needle Shop in Ji 'nan (the earliest adverisement extant . Rubbing form an engrarved copper-plate , Northern Song)