Books are associated with words and civilization, and Suzhou contains the core of cultural China's bookishness. As one of the birthplaces of the mainland book engraving industry, Suzhou's book engraving activities occupy an extremely important position in the history of Chinese book engraving and the history of the development of ancient Chinese academic culture. On the afternoon of April 27th, the series of lectures of the Ancient Wuxuan Sinology Lecture Hall of "Tracing the Origin of Jiangnan" "Talking about 'Su Plate' - Also Talking about the Influence of Suzhou Carved Books in East Asia" was held in the Ancient Wuxuan Bookstore (Zhang Taiyan's Former Residence Store). Chen Zhenghong, a professor at the Institute of Ancient Books Collation at Fudan University and a doctoral supervisor in Chinese classical philology, focused on the more than 1,000-year-old history of Suzhou calligraphy and led the audience to explore the vein of Jiangnan calligraphy.
Thanks to the superior geographical location, economic prosperity and cultural prosperity, Suzhou has been an important area for engraving and engraving books as early as the Song Dynasty. The poetry collections of literary giants such as Li Bai and Du Fu that have been handed down to this day are all based on the official engravings of Suzhou during the Northern Song Dynasty, which shows the great influence of the Suzhou engravings.
Chen Zhenghong said that this has a great relationship with the cultural environment of Suzhou. Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the economic development of the Jiangnan region has provided a stable material foundation for cultural and educational undertakings, and the number of books with both economic strength and cultural literacy has increased, which makes Suzhou engraving more and more sophisticated, precious, compared with Fujian engraving with a strong commercial nature, it is better than quality but not quantity, "Su plate" is almost the name of China's high-quality books, and even the Chinese engraving book that has spread to Vietnam pretends to be Suzhou engraving, stamped with the seal known as "Gusu original".
Referring to the Song character with the highest "appearance rate" in China, Chen Zhenghong introduced that this is actually evolved from the Song Dynasty engraving to the Ming Dynasty engraved Song engraving, which is characterized by horizontal and vertical, square and square, which is related to the ancient printing industry and the history of Suzhou carving.
Before the Song Dynasty, books were mostly copied by hand, and after the popularization of engraving and printing, although the regular script as a handwriting style is beautiful, it is not conducive to engraving. Faced with the surge in the number of candidates for the imperial examinations and the growing demand for publications, the Suzhou engravers straightened the strokes, leaving only a small triangle at the right end of the horizontal drawing to indicate the finish. After development and evolution, the font used for printing was formed in the Ming Dynasty, and after that, people still called it Song style, without cutting off history, Chen Zhenghong believes that from the perspective of tracing back to Jiangnan, this also reflects the continuity of the history of Chinese civilization.
This sharing is based on Chen Zhenghong's "History of Suzhou Engravings", and the so-called "Let's Say 'Su Plate'" is a sharing of newly acquired North Korean engravings and other materials, which are used to discuss the far-reaching influence of Suzhou engravings overseas and the relationship from local technology to international politics. He said that the study of the history of Suzhou engraving should not be regarded as a simple case, but should be considered in the context of the history of Chinese engraving in the whole country and even in East Asia. It is not a process behind closed doors, but a constant interaction with the outside world and radiating outward. This millennium of glory inevitably includes openness and inclusiveness, and its unique historical significance and modern value can be better demonstrated from this global perspective.
(Su Bao financial media reporter Zhu Zhijing text/photo)
Editor: Qian Fang