Case Study
Passage with linked questions
Case Set 1
Case AnalysisPassage
Rajan is a history enthusiast who visited an ancient Chinese library. The curator explained that from AD 594 onwards, books in China were printed by rubbing paper against the inked surface of woodblocks. The imperial state was the major producer of printed material and textbooks for civil service examinations were printed in vast numbers. By the seventeenth century, urban culture bloomed, and the uses of print diversified. Merchants began using print to collect trade information, and reading became a leisure activity. The new readership preferred fictional narratives, poetry, autobiographies, and romantic plays. Rich women began to read, and many began publishing their poetry and plays. Western printing techniques were imported in the late nineteenth century and Shanghai became the hub of the new print culture.
Question 1: What was the earliest print technology used in China and what was it called?
- The earliest print technology in China was a system of hand printing.
- Books were printed by rubbing paper against the inked surface of woodblocks from AD 594 onwards.
Question 2: How did the role of print change in China by the seventeenth century?
- Print was no longer restricted to scholar-officials; merchants used it for trade information.
- Reading became a leisure activity and new readership emerged that preferred fiction, poetry, autobiographies and romantic plays.
Question 3: Analyse how the role of women changed with the spread of print culture in China.
- Rich women began to read as print made books more accessible to them.
- Many women began publishing their poetry and plays, signifying a rise in female literary expression.
- Wives of scholar-officials published their works and courtesans wrote about their lives, indicating a broadening of the social base of literacy.