The Yuan Dynasty

Both government and private printing in the Yuan Dynasty were very active. There were two major centres for printing, one in the south and one in the north. The printing technology can be seen from the following aspects:

Government Printing
At that time, the Secretariat Office was responsible for all the important government books while the organization of their printing was entrusted to the local governments.

Academy Printing
During the Yuan Dynasty, the West Lake Academy engraved and printed many publications. A major characteristic of acadekic printing in those days was the collective effort that several acedemied made in the enraving and printing of multi-volume books.

Private Printing
Private Printing in the Yuan Dynasty flourished in Pingyang(¥¶§), Jianyang(«Ø¶§) and Hangzhou(ªC¦{). Printing was also found elsewhere in the country.

In the Yuan Dynasty, two-colour printing techniques were fairly sophisticated in the Yuan Dynasty. Moreove, the running script (¦æ®ÑÅé) made its first appearance. Wooden movable-type was also in use.

[Printing] [The Tang Dynasty] [The Song Dynasty] [The Ming Dynasty] [The dissemination of printing]