In fact, to be precise, this question is not in line with the actual historical situation, engraving printing was invented in the Tang Dynasty, prevailed in the Middle Tang Dynasty, this prevalence continued until the Song Dynasty, until the emergence of movable type printing, which is an indisputable fact.
Compared with the engraving plate printing, movable type printing is more flexible, and it is easy to carry, save materials, and avoid the embarrassing situation that the entire carved plate is completely scrapped due to negligence.
Therefore, after the emergence of movable type printing, it immediately became popular and received unanimous praise.? Of course, engraving printing has not been completely replaced, it still has its strong vitality, for a long time, the two printing techniques appeared in parallel, until later, it was gradually replaced by movable type printing. It can be seen that the disappearance of engraving plate printing is not the disappearance of movable type printing immediately after the emergence of movable type printing, but a process, the situation of two things existing at the same time, which is not rare.
So, let's go back to the original question, during the Ming and Qing dynasties, why was there a large number of engraved plate printing techniques?
In fact, not only in the Qing Dynasty, I remember when I was in elementary school, I also did a freshly printed test paper, that is, a blank piece of paper, spread on a hard board full of words, and then the ink rolled, it was a roll with ink fragrance, some dampness, this kind of volume is very unclear, and it will also make a lot of ink.
Even in today's society, this very old-fashioned engraving printing technology still exists, so the existence of engraving plate printing in the Ming and Qing dynasties is not an incredible thing.
During the Ming and Qing dynasties, there was such an obvious feature, movable type printing technology received strong support from the government and became the mainstream printing technology, and movable type changed from the original clay movable type to wooden movable type, lead movable type, copper movable type, and even the appearance of iron movable type, not only the number increased significantly, the quality of movable type was also continuously enhanced, and the printed books became extremely exquisite.
A man named Wang Zhen in the Yuan Dynasty even invented the revolver movable type printing machine, which shows that movable type printing continues to improve.
At the same time as the continuous progress of the technical level, a large number of fine books printed by the use of movable type printing have also been handed down, such as the "Tang Poetry Garden" during the Ming Dynasty, the "Ancient and Modern Book Integration" during the Kangxi Period of the Qing Dynasty, and the "YingwuDian Juzhen Edition Series" during the Qianlong Period.
If we further analyze from the geographical point of view, we will find that the large number of movable type printing technology is mainly distributed in densely populated and economically developed areas, in addition to the large number of movable type printing works produced by government intervention, local movable type printing is also in full swing, of which movable type printing is the most advanced, the highest quality, and the most prevalent place, which is Jiangnan.
As a result, Jiangnan movable type printing once became an industry leader.
Since the invention of movable type printing in the Song Dynasty, movable type printing has been favored by the public, after the continuous efforts of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, movable type printing has made great progress, and China's printing level, the original more worthy of pride. And movable type printing has become a veritable mainstream in the printing industry.
Therefore, I do not agree with the question of why the engraving plate printing technology was the mainstream in the Ming and Qing dynasties. I can only say that engraving and printing still existed in the Ming and Qing dynasties and even in some more remote places now. However, we cannot assume that engraving printing is the mainstream because they still exist.