Chapter 10. Placing Texts on Chinese Pages: From Bamboo Slips to Printed Paper
-
Ren-Yuan Li
Abstract
This chapter explores two particular features on Chinese pages that organized different layers of texts. “Multi-section structure” that places texts from different sources on the same page by two or three horizontal sections can be traced to sixteenth-century woodblock-printed books as the commercial book market greatly expanded and publishers attempted to include more content on their crowded pages. “Inserted double-column annotation” that inserts annotations and various subtexts into primary texts in two columns of small characters might originate from the layout of bamboo slips and can be found on manuscripts from no later than the fourth century. This format to place annotations was adopted when the state attempted to standardize Confucian classics by making woodblock-printed versions since the tenth century. Both features to organize different layers of texts on the same page were commonly used on woodblock-printed pages of commercial publication from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, and smoothly translated into books printed using lithography, which further penetrated into rural China during the late nineteenth century. These two features not only framed the hierarchy of texts on Chinese pages, but also modified the reading experience of Chinese readers.
Abstract
This chapter explores two particular features on Chinese pages that organized different layers of texts. “Multi-section structure” that places texts from different sources on the same page by two or three horizontal sections can be traced to sixteenth-century woodblock-printed books as the commercial book market greatly expanded and publishers attempted to include more content on their crowded pages. “Inserted double-column annotation” that inserts annotations and various subtexts into primary texts in two columns of small characters might originate from the layout of bamboo slips and can be found on manuscripts from no later than the fourth century. This format to place annotations was adopted when the state attempted to standardize Confucian classics by making woodblock-printed versions since the tenth century. Both features to organize different layers of texts on the same page were commonly used on woodblock-printed pages of commercial publication from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century, and smoothly translated into books printed using lithography, which further penetrated into rural China during the late nineteenth century. These two features not only framed the hierarchy of texts on Chinese pages, but also modified the reading experience of Chinese readers.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of Figures VII
- List of Tables XIII
- List of Contributors XV
- Introduction 1
-
I Slips, Scrolls, and Leaves: Before the Codex
- Chapter 1. Text and Paratext in the Greek Classical Tradition 23
- Chapter 2. Tabernacles of Text: A Brief Visual History of the Hebrew Bible 47
- Chapter 3. Impagination, Reading, and Interpretation in Early Chinese Texts 93
- Chapter 4. Sūtra Text in Pecha Format: Page Layout of the Tibetan Vimalakīrtinirdeśa 111
- Chapter 5. Between the Lines and in the Margins: Linguistic Change and Impagination Practices in South Asia 151
-
II The Printed World
- Chapter 6. The Margin as Canvas: A Forgotten Function of the Early Printed Page 185
- Chapter 7. Page Layout and the Complex Semiotic System of Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Chosŏn’s Samganghaengsildo 209
- Chapter 8. The Transformation of the Typical Page in the Handpress Era in the Southern Netherlands, 1473–c. 1800 237
- Chapter 9. Writer’s Block or Printer’s Block: The Book and Its Openings in Early Modern China 273
- Chapter 10. Placing Texts on Chinese Pages: From Bamboo Slips to Printed Paper 301
- Chapter 11. Recovering Translation Lost: Symbiosis and Ambilingual Design in Chinese/Manchu Language Reference Manuals of the Qing Dynasty 323
- Chapter 12. Japanophone Glosses (kunten) in Printed and Digitized Manuscripts 351
-
III Beyond the Book
- Chapter 13. Beyond the Physical Page: Latest Practice of Scientific Publication 377
- Index 399
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Frontmatter I
- Contents V
- List of Figures VII
- List of Tables XIII
- List of Contributors XV
- Introduction 1
-
I Slips, Scrolls, and Leaves: Before the Codex
- Chapter 1. Text and Paratext in the Greek Classical Tradition 23
- Chapter 2. Tabernacles of Text: A Brief Visual History of the Hebrew Bible 47
- Chapter 3. Impagination, Reading, and Interpretation in Early Chinese Texts 93
- Chapter 4. Sūtra Text in Pecha Format: Page Layout of the Tibetan Vimalakīrtinirdeśa 111
- Chapter 5. Between the Lines and in the Margins: Linguistic Change and Impagination Practices in South Asia 151
-
II The Printed World
- Chapter 6. The Margin as Canvas: A Forgotten Function of the Early Printed Page 185
- Chapter 7. Page Layout and the Complex Semiotic System of Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-Century Chosŏn’s Samganghaengsildo 209
- Chapter 8. The Transformation of the Typical Page in the Handpress Era in the Southern Netherlands, 1473–c. 1800 237
- Chapter 9. Writer’s Block or Printer’s Block: The Book and Its Openings in Early Modern China 273
- Chapter 10. Placing Texts on Chinese Pages: From Bamboo Slips to Printed Paper 301
- Chapter 11. Recovering Translation Lost: Symbiosis and Ambilingual Design in Chinese/Manchu Language Reference Manuals of the Qing Dynasty 323
- Chapter 12. Japanophone Glosses (kunten) in Printed and Digitized Manuscripts 351
-
III Beyond the Book
- Chapter 13. Beyond the Physical Page: Latest Practice of Scientific Publication 377
- Index 399
