farfel_n03_051_156

156
August 1983
J. S. Edgren, Carmel
$35.00
For chi ching sutra, dated 1090. Chinese - Sung Printing.
Tung - Ch'An - Ssu edition (Fu - chou A)
Format: 6 columns of 17 characters to the page, 30 col. to the sheet
Border: single 23.9x11.2cm coarse paper.
Single page from accordian binding.

The Two Sungs 960-1279
Northern 960-1126 - captial Pien-liang (modern K'ai-feng)
Southern 1127-1279 - capital Hangchow (Lin'an)
-Later in the 11th C., a new version of the Buddhist
scriptures was printed in Fa-chou in Fukien, + was made up
into accordian folds to make reading + reference easier. This new
ed. reminds that Fukien province, until the 9th C a thinly
peopled cultural backwater, was rapidly developing into a major
literary center during the 10+11th C. It was to become one of the
most important centres of Chinese printing during Sung Times.
- The oracle bone inscriptions of bronze age China dated to
the period ca 1200-1050 BC. are documents unique in history.
These devination records establish the Chinese of the Shang
dynasty as the 1st fully literate civilization east of the Indus
Calley, the 1st uses of script whcih has characterized the
writing of China + much of the far east even since, +
the 1st Chinese people of whom a true history may be
written.
- The earliest extant Chinese writing dates from teh 13th C. BC - bones +
shell inscriptions that record royal divinations (oracle bone)
- brush written on ceramic fragments
- cast bronze inscriptions - late Sheng (13-11 BC)
western Chou (10-11 BC)
B.M. - The concentina form of the colume illustrates an intermediate stage
in the development of the Chinese book between the MSS scroll
+ the classic thread bound form of binding.