Sections & Selections
Seeking Antiquity and Learning: Imprints by the Government
In the Sung dynasty, learning and virtue were valued as a means of governing, so the government spared no effort in the printing and collecting of books. In terms of the central government, the institution that led the way in printing books was the Directorate of Education, which specialized in printing the Confucian Classics, official histories of previous dynasties, and large-scale classified compilations. It also printed such reference books as those dealing with Chinese characters, rhyming lines, herbal medicine, and Buddhism and Taoism. For example, displayed in this exhibit is Li Shan-chu’s "Literary Anthology", which is a Directorate of Education imprint from Emperor Jen-tsung’s reign (1023-1063) in the Northern Sung that served as model reading by scholars among the public. In the late Northern Sung, when armies of the Chin dynasty invaded from the north, many books in the Sung capital of Pien-ching were confiscated by the Chin. The remnants of the Sung government that had fled south not only searched for remains of the old Directorate imprints so that woodblocks could be re-carved, the Southern Sung government also commissioned local governments to print and produce many books required at various levels of society. Composed mainly of local official imprints, they were often of high quality, an example of such in this exhibit being "Book of the Han", which has wide column spacing and large characters. In this re-carving of a Northern Sung imprint by the Two Huai East Kiang Transport Commission, the quality of the ink is also superlative. Furthermore, surviving imprints of the Classics by the Tea and Salt Monopoly of the Two Che East Circuit, combining annotations and discourses, paved the way for changing the custom of carving separate editions from the Northern Sung. As paragons for later generations, they also reflect the status of the government as a standard-bearer in the printing industry.
Annotated by Kuo P’u (Chin Dynasty)
Southern Sung imprint by the Directorate of Education
This is the earliest dictionary of poetry in China and was compiled approximately in the Western Han period with explanatory annotations made by Kuo P’u in the Western Chin period. The first reprinting as done by the Directorate of Education during the Southern T’ang of the Five Dynasties period, and it was re-carved for printing again by the Directorate of Education of the Northern Sung. Both imprints, however, were lost, and this printing re-carved by the Directorate of Education in the Southern Sung period is now the sole surviving copy of this edition.
Written by Pan Ku (Han Dynasty)
Addendum by Pan Chao (Han Dynasty) and annotations by Yen Shih-ku (T’ang Dynasty)Middle Shao-hsing era (1140-60) Sung imprint by the Two Huai East Kiang Transport Commission
In the early years of the Southern Sung, re-carvings of the Classics and Histories were all based on surviving imprints from the Northern Sung. Consequently, texts were often identical to those of the Northern Sung, including the use of taboo characters in them. This edition belongs to a re-carving of a Northern Sung edition, its text and annotations being far more refined than those of many other Southern Sung and later editions.
Annotated by Chao Ch’i (Han Dynasty) with commentaries formerly ascribed to Sun Shih (Sung Dynasty)
Chia-t’ai era (1201-1204) Sung imprint by the Tea and Salt Monopoly of the Two Che East Circuit with Yüan and Ming Dynasty revisions
Although this eight-line edition of the Classics combining the main text and commentary is slightly later than the “Commentaries on the Rites of Chou”, it is now the sole surviving copy.
Written by Tu Fu (T’ang Dynasty)
Collected annotations by Tseng E and others (Sung Dynasty)
1225 Sung imprint by the Transport Commission of Kwangtung
This is the finest surviving edition of Tu Fu’s poetry. Fully annotated, the characters of the print are solemn and upright in the forceful manner of Yen Chen-ch’ing’s calligraphy. The spacing of the woodblock carving is also ample, making it a superb example of Sung dynasty engraving and also the sole surviving copy.