Text and Picture: Wen 文 and Tu 图 in Chinese Culture
Anne McLaren, Professor in Chinese Studies, Asia Institute, University of Melbourne
In the earliest stage of print in China, the written text was combined with illustrations to attract and instruct the reader. Chinese print technology readily accommodated both text and illustration and both are essential to the materiality and aesthetics of the Chinese book.
The Chinese were the first in the world to invent paper, which was devised as early as the second century BCE and used for writing in the second century CE. China was also the first country in the world to invent a form of print technology that relied on carved woodblocks. Woodblock printing began as early as the eighth century CE in China and was widely adopted in East Asia. In this form of printing, the artisan carves a mirror image of the Chinese characters onto a wooden block and then places a sheet of paper on the prepared surface. The dried sheets are then bound into a book. At a later stage, the Chinese also invented movable type and multi-colour printing.
Woodblock printing retained its popularity down to the first half of the twentieth century. Characters could be carved by hand in different calligraphic styles, giving the reader the impression that they were looking at a manuscript. Illustrations could readily be carved onto the surface of the block. Text and illustration were often carefully matched to create a particular aesthetic effect. At the upper end of the market, books could be appreciated as sumptuous works of art. By the seventeenth century, a more artisanal type of carved character style became popular. This was cheaper to carve and created a more uniform effect. Cheaper books had more characters crammed into each page and simpler illustrations. These commercial texts are evidence of a growing popular readership in the more affluent regions of China. By the late imperial era, the Chinese classics, books of everyday knowledge, religious works, and literary works for entertainment circulated widely throughout China’s vast empire.
Religious beliefs were important in the early use of print in China. Early imprints include Buddhist charms and scrolls recording the sutras (sacred texts). The world’s oldest surviving ‘book’ with a known date is the Diamond Sutra (Jingang jing:金剛經). The Diamond Sutra was printed using woodblocks on separate sheets that were then combined to form a long scroll. A colophon on the scroll provides a date that converts to 868 CE in the Western calendar. The scroll begins with an exquisite illustration of the Buddha addressing an assembly of devotees. The high quality of the scroll indicates that this sort of technology was already quite advanced in the ninth century.
Europe developed paper and print technology much later than in China. It is believed that paper was introduced into the West through the Middle East in the eleventh century, where it came to gradually replace the use of parchment for writing. In 1439 Johannes Gutenberg invented the European movable type printing press.
Chinese print technology was a vital component of China’s ‘soft power’ in the pre-contemporary era. Chinese-style print technology was introduced to numerous East Asia countries and adaptations of Chinese works can be found today in Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Indochina, and the Philippines.
Case studies:
1. Diamond Sutra scroll (now held in the British Library). This scroll is part of the treasure trove of manuscripts and imprints discovered in the caves of Dunhuang in the early twentieth century. This scroll is five metres long. The colophon relates that a man called Wang Jie 王玠 had this scroll made on behalf of his parents. Buddhist devotees paid for religious texts to be printed to gain karmic merit. The copying down and recitation of sutras was an important devotional practice. The Diamond Sutra is a key sutra expounding the unreality of the material world: “its teaching will cut like a diamond blade through worldly illusions”.
2. Women of the upper classes were encouraged to read Biographies of Exemplary Women 列女傳. Illustrated editions were very popular, such as this one illustrated by the famous artist, Qiu Ying 仇英 (1494-1552). The stories related here derive from earlier biographies and histories. This image portrays Feng Yuan (馮媛), a consort of the Emperor Yuan (元帝) of the Han dynasty (first century BCE). Feng Yuan was known as a brave and lively woman. At one time the court was watching the spectacle of captured animals fighting. A bear rushed out of the enclosure towards the emperor. Feng Yuan bravely raced forward and blocked the path of the bear, allowing the retainers to capture and kill the bear. After that she was even more beloved of the emperor and promoted to first-class consort (zhaoyi 昭儀).
3. Works of fiction and drama were often illustrated. One example is the earliest extant edition of the famous play, Western Wing. Exhibited here is a page from the earliest extant edition (新刊奇妙全相註釋西廂記), which was printed in the 15th century in Beijing. Western Wing relates the story of young lovers Zhang Sheng 張生 and Cui Yingying 崔鶯鶯, who meet in a Buddhist monastery where they are seeking refuge. Their love affair was regarded as transgressive, but the mother allows them to marry once Zhang Sheng passes the imperial exams and is awarded an official position. This is one of the most famous love stories in Chinese culture.
4. Exhibited here is the earliest surviving imprint of a genre known as chantefable, or story related in verse and prose. The illustration is from the tale of Tang general Xue Rengui 薛仁貴, an historical figure famous for his bravery in campaigning against border tribes. On one occasion Xue is trapped in a burning valley. The Jade Emperor above is moved by his plight and calls on the Dragon King to send down rain to put the fire out. This story comes from a Ming era collection of chantefables, Ming Chenghua era shuochang cihua cong kan 明成化說唱詞話叢刊, which was printed in Beijing in the 1470s. This story was also performed in village theatre at the time of New Year to exorcise evil spirits.
