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The History of the Book in China

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East Asian Library 70th Anniversary Celebration

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Three-Day Workshop on The History of the Book in China

Wednesday, June 13, 2018 to Friday, June 15, 2018
Main Conference Room, Charles E. Young Research Library (11348 YRL), UCLA Library

The Richard C. Rudolph East Asian Library (EAL) presents a three-day workshop on The History of the Book in China as part of the EAL’s 70th Anniversary Celebration. The instructor is Professor James Soren Edgren, Princeton University, an internationally renowned scholar on the East Asian book and printing.

The three-day workshop featured a wide range of topics, including:

  • History of the book;
  • Emergence of Chinese script and its special characteristics;
  • Characteristics of "true paper";
  • Essential role of paper in book culture and the significance of its early availability in China;
  • Spread of paper in East Asia and its dissemination to other regions;
  • Printing and its early development from the Tang (618-907) to Northern Song (960-1127) Dynasties;
  • Transmission of printing to Korea, Japan, and China’s border regions.

Additional areas of focus cover the following topics:

  • Book production in non-Han languages and scripts; 
  • Ink-squeeze rubbings as proto-printing;
  • Current controversies concerning the history of printing within East Asia;
  • Aesthetics of woodblock printing
  • Manuscript culture and the co-existence of manuscripts and printed books;
  • How ink and paper served the needs of literate culture;
  • The “golden age” of books and printing in the Southern Song (1127-1279) Dynasty;
  • Non-commercial vs commercial publishing;
  • Dynastic change and economic retrenchment in the early-Ming (1368-1521) Dynasty;
  • Economic recovery and the printing “boom” of the late-Ming (1522-1644) Dynasty;
  • Woodcuts, book illustrations, and color printing in China and East Asia, with emphasis on their styles and techniques;
  • Traditional libraries and book collecting in China;
  • Use of seal impressions as signs of ownership (i.e., as ex libris marks);
  • Government and other official libraries, religious libraries, and private libraries; and
  • Impact of Western influences on the development of the book in China.

Questions may be directed to Su Chen at suchen11@library.ucla.edu.

In the year 2018, the East Asian Library celebrates its 70th Anniversary since its founding in 1948.

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