The four great inventions play an important role in the history of human civilization. Printing, compass, gunpowder and papermaking are four great inventions in ancient China, and they are one of the symbols that China has become an ancient civilization. In ancient times, China's science and technology were in the forefront of the world in many aspects. After the 5th century, Europe was in feudal society. In this long period, China's technology has been developing, while Europe's technology has stagnated. Until.
China's four great inventions were introduced to the west one after another before the emergence of modern European civilization, which became "the necessary prerequisite for the development of the bourgeoisie" (the complete works of Marx and Engels), providing a material basis for the bourgeoisie to step onto the political stage: the appearance of printing changed the situation that only monks could study and receive higher education, which facilitated the spread of culture; The use of gunpowder and firearms destroyed feudal castles and helped the bourgeoisie defeat feudal nobles; When the compass reached the hands of European navigators, it made it possible for them to discover America and sail around the world, laying the foundation for the bourgeoisie to develop world trade and handicrafts. In a word, the four great inventions of ancient China left a glorious page in the history of human science and culture. These great inventions have influenced and benefited the whole world and promoted the progress of human history.
The invention of the compass
One of four great inventions of ancient china. Pointing tools made by using the north and south polarity of magnets in the earth's magnetic field have many shapes. During the Warring States period, magnets were found to attract iron, and natural magnets were used to make "SiNa spoon" and "its handle guide". After a long period of practice, people found that the method of artificial magnetization produced a higher level of magnetic director. Shen Kuo, a scientist in the Song Dynasty, first recorded the geomagnetic declination, and said that steel needles rubbed against natural magnets. Magnetizing it into a magnetic needle can be used as a guide, but it is often slightly eastward. This paper introduces four methods of supporting and hanging the magnetic needle: first, floating on the water; second, putting it on a nail; third, putting it on the edge of a bowl; and fourth, hanging it with a thread (see Shen Kuo's model of hanging a compass with colored pictures). Song Jun is equipped with a guide fish, which cuts thin iron leaves into the shape of fish and magnetizes them to judge the direction of travel in cloudy days and nights. Later it developed into a magnetic needle. The compass. Zeng Sanyi recorded in Records of Yin Hua that there were "ground snails", "or meridian needles, or sewing a needle between meridian". This snail is also a water compass. At that time, Yin and Yang used it to see Feng Shui. They also use it in clearing fields and hearing land lawsuits. According to Tan Sitong and Xuan, he was sent to North Korea.
In the earliest "compass" Warring States period, our people used magnets to create a tool to indicate the direction, called "Sina", which means guide.
The shape of Sina is completely different from the current compass. It is made in the shape of an ancient spoon in China, much like the spoon we use now.
How did Sina make it? There is no detailed record in ancient books, and there is no physical object left, so we have no way of knowing its exact shape. According to experts' research, SiNa grinds the whole natural magnet into the shape of a spoon and grinds its S pole into a long handle, so the center of gravity falls in the middle of the round and smooth bottom.
Sina is finished, and it is necessary to make a smooth chassis. When in use, first put the chassis flat, then put Sina in the middle of the chassis, and move its handle by hand to make it rotate. When Sina stopped, its long handle pointed south and its spoon mouth pointed north.
Sina's chassis is bronze, and some are painted boards. Bronze and lacquerware are smooth and have small friction resistance, so Sina is very flexible to rotate. This kind of chassis has an inner ring and an outer ring, and it is also engraved with grid lines and characters indicating orientation. Among the unearthed cultural relics, there are such bronze plates and painted wooden plates; There is also a stone carving of the Eastern Han Dynasty, carved on a small platform with a small spoon. Some people think this is Sina.
Sina is the earliest "compass" in the world. During the Warring States period, someone went to pick jade, afraid of getting lost in the barren hills, so they took Sina with them.
Sina must rotate on a smooth chassis, and the chassis must be flat, otherwise it will affect its guiding role and even make it slide off the chassis. Therefore, after people invented Sina, they continued to study it.
Investigate tools to improve the guide.
In 960, Song Taizu established the Song Dynasty, ending the feudal regime in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period. During the Northern Song Dynasty, agriculture, handicrafts and commerce all made new progress. On this basis, China has made brilliant achievements in science and technology. In the Song Dynasty, China made great progress in the manufacture of compasses, just like papermaking and printing.
About the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, China created a guiding tool-compass fish.
At that time, there was a famous military work called "Military Essentials", which said: When marching, if it is cloudy and dark and you can't tell the direction, let the old horse lead the way, or use the South Compass to tell the direction. Wu Jingzong Yao was written in the first four years of the Northern Song Dynasty (AD 1044). In other words, at that time, China had
The compass fish is made of a thin steel plate and looks like a fish. It is two inches long and five minutes wide, and the fish's stomach is concave, so that it can float on the water like a boat.
Fish made of steel sheet is not magnetic, so it has no guiding function. If it is to be guided, it must be turned into a magnet by artificial magnetic transfer.
There is no clear record about how to artificially turn the magnetic field, but it is pointed out that fingerless fish should be collected by "secret devices", that is, they should be hidden by sealed zygotes. From this point of view, the artificial magnetic transfer method at that time was probably like this: put the fish made of steel sheet and the natural magnet in the same sealed zygote, let them contact for a long time, and let them all be made of steel sheet.
It turns out that every molecule in magnetized or unmagnetized steel is a "small magnet". For unmagnetized steel bars, the molecular arrangement is disordered, and the magnetism of "small magnets" cancels each other out. For magnetized steel bars, all the "small magnets" are arranged neatly, and the same magnetic poles face in one direction. Needless to say, the whole steel bar is magnetic. If you take a magnet, it will be magnetic. Always moving from one end to the other, then, due to the attraction of magnets, the molecules in ordinary steel bars are also arranged in one direction, thus completing the work of "magnetic transmission". The "secret collection" mentioned in Wu Yao may refer to this method of artificial magnetic transmission.
Our people invented artificial magnets as guide fish, which is a great progress. This shows that our people had quite rich knowledge of magnets more than 900 years ago.
It is more convenient to use guide fish than Sina. You don't need to make a smooth copper plate, just a bowl of water. Even if this bowl of water is put unevenly, it will not affect the function of the guide, because the water in the bowl is flat. Moreover, because the friction of liquid is smaller than that of solid, it is more flexible to rotate, so it is more sensitive and accurate than Sina.
At that time, there were not only fish made of steel, but also fish made of wood and guide turtles. The Song Dynasty's "Stone Forest Guang Ji" recorded the method of making fish out of wood: carve a piece of wood into the shape of a fish, which is as big as a finger, dig a hole in the mouth of the fish, put a magnet in it to make its S-level face outward, and then seal the mouth with wax. In addition, insert a needle into the fish's mouth so that it faces south.
Guide turtles are also carved out of wood, and like wooden guide fish, magnets are inserted in the tail. Instead of putting it in the water, people dig a hole under its belly, put it on a smooth bamboo nail and let it rotate freely, and the needle on its tail will automatically point south.
This kind of wooden guide fish and turtle is probably created by some alchemists who know magic, and then they are only used for magic. Therefore, the author of Shilin Guangji regards them as "fairies".
The invention of gunpowder
One of four great inventions of ancient china. When the ancient alchemist was making alchemy, it was gradually discovered that the mixture of sulfur (S), sodium nitrate (KN□) and charcoal (C) could burn and explode. At the end of the Tang Dynasty (904 ~ 906), gunpowder arrows began to appear in the war, and there was also a record that "Fei Huo took the opportunity", that is, the gunpowder bag was thrown by a trebuchet as a combustible weapon. In the Song Dynasty, there was a department that produced gunpowder. Wu Yao recorded three formulations of gunpowder, and the production of gunpowder has reached a considerable scale. Although the production technology was strictly confidential, it was introduced into Liao Dynasty. Therefore, a large amount of sulfur was imported from Japan, and the export of sulfur and nitrate to Liaoning was prohibited. When Zhao Qing was in Song Shenzong, the border guards were equipped with a large number of gunpowder bows and arrows, gunpowder artillery arrows and other weapons. When Liao Daozong was in Nanjing, he also analyzed it in Tianjin. The navy is also equipped with thunderbolt guns, artillery, rockets and other weapons, and has set up gunpowder weapons manufacturing industries in cities such as Jiankang House (now Nanjing, Jiangsu Province) and Jiangling House (now Jiangling, Hubei Province). Early gunpowder weapons had limited power and could not replace cold weapons. However, since the mid-Southern Song Dynasty, the proportion of gunpowder weapons in weapons has obviously increased (see color map rocket (model). The gunpowder barrel is tied to the front end of the arrow, and the arrow is driven by the back thrust generated when the gunpowder burns. One of the gunpowder weapons equipped by the army in the Song Dynasty). The manufacturing technology of gunpowder in Jin Dynasty came from Liao. At the beginning of Jin's attack on Song Dynasty, artillery was used. Since then, gunpowder has been used more and more frequently in the Song, Jin and Yuan wars. When Jin fought against the Mongolian army, the firearms used were thunderbolt and flying musket. Iron cannons similar to modern artillery shells appeared in the Song Dynasty, but they were still projected by trebuchets. He also invented a musket, which used giant bamboo as the barrel and fired "Zi Zhen", similar to the guns of later generations, but did not use metal launch tubes. This is the limit of the progress of gunpowder weapons in Liao, Song and Jin Dynasties, but it determines the development direction of gunpowder weapons in later generations. In short, the Liao, Song and Jin dynasties can be regarded as the foundation period of human use of gunpowder. During the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, a tubular firearm made of copper and iron was discovered.
During the Southern Song Dynasty, the use of gunpowder became more and more common, and firearms were further developed. In order to resist the invasion of nomads from the Southern Song Dynasty, military strategists constantly improved their weapons. In the early Southern Song Dynasty, in the second year of Shaoxing, Song Gaozong (A.D. 1 132), the military strategist Tao Jing invented the tubular fire.
The musket is a great progress in the history of firearms.
This musket is made of a long bamboo pole, and the bamboo tube is filled with gunpowder. During the war, two people held it, lit it, lit it, and used it to burn the enemy.
This is the earliest tubular firearm in China. Putting gunpowder in a bamboo tube to make a musket is a great progress in the application of gunpowder. It is not easy to hit the target accurately by firing gunpowder with a trebuchet. With tubular firearms, people can fire more accurately and start arson properly.
After the invention of musket, it was invented in the late Southern Song Dynasty through continuous improvement. The musket is made of a thick bamboo tube, which contains gunpowder and something called "Zizhen". After the gunpowder is ignited with a torch, it first emits a flame, and then it is really shot out, making a sound like a gun.
What exactly is this "sub-nest"? Probably one of the earliest bullets, but it is not explained in ancient books.
The function of musket is only to burn people, but the sudden musket can hit people, which is a step further than musket.
Firearms and muskets are primitive tubular firearms made of bamboo tubes, which are not powerful, but they are the ancestors of modern guns, from which modern guns are slowly developed.
The invention of papermaking
In the first year of Yuan Xing in the Eastern Han Dynasty (105), Cai Lun reformed and popularized the papermaking technology on the basis of the previous papermaking technology. The new paper-making technology has changed the old hemp paper which is inconvenient to write into a good paper-making technology without changing the overall structure.
Before Cai Lun papermaking appeared, in China, there were Oracle Bone Inscriptions in Shang Dynasty, bronzes in Western Zhou Dynasty, bamboo slips, wooden slips and silks in Spring and Autumn Period. In the Han Dynasty, agriculture was developed, economy was prosperous, national strength was strong, and cultural undertakings were prosperous. Heavy bamboo slips and expensive silk books can no longer meet people's needs, and it is the general trend to seek new writing materials.
According to the ancient hemp paper unearthed in Xinjiang, Shaanxi, Gansu and other places since the middle of the 20th century, experts confirmed that it was the flake fiber of hemp paper in the Western Han Dynasty, indicating that papermaking may have appeared before Cai Lun, which may be related to people's treatment of textile hemp. However, there are no recognizable characters on these ancient hemp papers in the Western Han Dynasty, and there is still great controversy about whether papermaking has appeared in the Western Han Dynasty. This is a biography of Cai Lun.
Cai Lun (62 ~ 12 1), Guiyang (now Chenzhou, Hunan), entered the palace in the eighteenth year of Yongping, Ming Di (75). In the first year of Zhang He (87), he became Shang Fangling, in charge of the palace handicraft workshop. He invented papermaking in the first year of Yuan Xing (105).
The Biography of Cai Lun in the Later Han Dynasty records that before papermaking in Cai Lun, the paper used for writing notes was actually silk. Cai Lun made plant fiber paper from bark, hemp, rags and fishing nets through a series of technological processes, such as crushing, ramming, papermaking and baking. It is a good paper with the same general structure and a real paper, which is generally considered as the invention era of papermaking. 46638.668686666666
Cai Lun's reform and popularization of papermaking made the use of paper more and more after the Eastern Han Dynasty. From the archaeological excavations in ancient paper in the Eastern Han Dynasty, many of them have written fonts, and the quality has been obviously improved. These ancient paper in the Eastern Han Dynasty, whether poetry, letters or letters, are the products of the last years of the Eastern Han Dynasty. To be precise, it should be about 4 years in Yongchuan (1 10). Scientists have made a detailed scientific analysis of the ancient paper with handwriting unearthed from the tombs of the late Eastern Han Dynasty in Wuwei, Gansu Province on 1974, and found that the ancient paper has certain strength and flexibility, and its thickness is equivalent to that of modern machine-made manuscript paper. The raw material is hemp fiber, such as hemp, which is very thin and tightly wrapped on one side.
The use of paper in the Eastern Han Dynasty was recorded in many manuscripts. For example, the tribute paper mentioned in The Biography of Empress Deng in the Later Han Dynasty, and the official orders of Shaofu and Youcheng in charge of paper and ink in the imperial court all show that paper has been widely used in the imperial court. However, the paper and characters contained in Biography of Yan Dou in the late Han Dynasty.
The invention of papermaking is one of the greatest inventions in ancient China and the most outstanding achievement in the history of human civilization. The emergence of paper is the foundation of human civilization. As a new information carrier, it first appeared in China, which made the prosperity of Han civilization in China surpass other civilizations. Around the 8th century, Arabs began to use China's technology and equipment to make paper.
The appearance and popularization of paper brought a brand-new look to the cultural life after the Han Dynasty. The quality of paper is getting better and better. In the second year of Pingping, Hanzhong (185), Zuo Bo, a Shandong paper expert, made "Zuo Bo paper", which was called "one piece of paper, brilliant" in history. From the 2nd century to the 5th century, Zuo Bo paper, Zhang Zhi's pen and Dan Wei ink. With the development of economy, papermaking has spread to the Yangtze River valley and the south of the Yangtze River, and more and better papers have appeared. The prevailing wind of reading, copying books and collecting books in Jin Dynasty benefited from the popularization and promotion of paper. The upsurge of copying classics, collecting books and copying Zuo Si San Du Fu made Luoyang paper expensive, which was an unprecedented landscape after the popularization of paper.
The invention of printing
Since the appearance of paper, with the development of economy and culture, more and more people read books, and the demand for books has also increased greatly.
In the early Jin Dynasty, the government collected 29,945 volumes. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Emperor Liang Yuan collected more than 70,000 books in Jiangling, and the Sui Dynasty collected 370,000 books in Jiazetang, which is the highest collection record of the ancient National Library of China.
Besides official books, there are more and more private books. For example, Mrs. Guo of the Jin Dynasty has a collection of 5,000 books; When Zhang Hua moved, thirty cars were used to transport books alone.
Before the invention of printing, only governments and rich people like Mrs. Guo and Zhang Hua could have so many books, and it was not easy for ordinary people to get one or two books, because books were manuscripts at that time. How much manpower it takes to copy so many manuscripts! If this situation does not change, how can we meet the needs of society?
It is often the case in history that a scientific invention will appear as long as it is urgently needed by society and has material conditions for production. This is the emergence of block printing.
Before block printing appeared, seals and rubbings were widely used in society.
There are two kinds of seals: Yang Wen and Wen Yin. The words engraved in Yang Wen are convex, while those engraved in Wen Yin are concave. "If you use Yang Wen seals, they will be printed in black on a white background, which is very eye-catching. However, seals are generally small, and the number of words printed is limited.
Generally, inscriptions are written in negative characters, which are not eye-catching. Moreover, the inscription process is complicated and it is not convenient to print books. But the inscription has a great advantage, that is, the area of the inscription is relatively large, and many words can be printed at a time.
What if we learn from each other's strengths and combine the characteristics of rubbing? Of course the situation is different.
Inspired by rubbings and seals, the working people in China invented block printing.
The method of block printing is as follows: saw the wood into pieces of boards, write the words to be printed on thin paper and stick them on the boards, and then carve them into orthography one by one with a knife to make the strokes of each word stand out on the boards. After the board is carved, you can print books. When printing books, first dip the brush into the ink, brush it on the block, and then copy it on the board with self-paper When the paper is removed, a page of the book is printed. After the page is printed, it is bound into a book, and a book is successful. This printing method is lettering printing on wooden boards, so everyone calls it "block printing".
When did China invent woodblock printing? Historians have not yet reached an agreement on this issue, but most people think it was invented in the Tang Dynasty.
At the end of Sui Dynasty and the beginning of Tang Dynasty, the large-scale peasant uprising promoted the development of social production and the vigorous development of cultural undertakings, which objectively produced an urgent demand for block printing.
According to Shao Jingbang's A Brief Account of Ming Hong, Emperor Taizong's Empress Stone collected the stories of typical women in feudal society and compiled a book called Women's Rules. Ten years after Zhenguan, the queen Tu died, and someone in the palace gave this book to Emperor Taizong. After reading it, Emperor Taizong ordered it to be printed by block printing.
Ten years of Zhenguan, AD 636. The publication date of the women's rules may be this year or later. This is the earliest block print mentioned in China literature. Judging from this information, it may be that people began to print books with block printing at that time, so Emperor Taizong thought of printing rules. The invention of block printing definitely predates the publication date of Women's Rules.
By the ninth century, it was quite common for China to print books by block printing.
There was an outstanding poet named Bai Juyi in the Tang Dynasty. He compiled his poems into a collection of poems, Bai Changqing Collection. On 2004 1 February 10 (AD 8251February 2), Yuan Zhen, a good friend of Bai Juyi, prefaced Bai Changqing Collection. The preface says: People wrote Bai Juyi's poems at that time.
In the past, people called the carved stone "mole", but in the Tang Dynasty, it was also called "mole". The word "mole" here means block printing.
It is also recorded in the Book of the Old Tang Dynasty that in December of the ninth year of Daiwa (AD 835), Tang Wenzong ordered all localities not to print almanac by engraving without permission. How did this happen? According to other ancient records, people in Jiannan, Liangchuan and Huainan Road all printed almanac with block printing and sold it in the street. Every year, Tiantai, the calendar manager, does not invite the release of new calendars, but new calendars printed by ordinary people can be seen everywhere. It was the privilege of feudal emperors to issue calendars. In order to maintain the prestige of the imperial court, our ambassador to Dongchuan, Su Feng, issued a letter forbidding private publication of almanac. Almanac is related to agricultural production and farmers are very concerned about it. Although Tang Wenzong issued this order, the almanac printed by the people is still popular everywhere. Even in the same area, there are more than one almanac printed by the people.
During the Huang Chao Uprising, Tang Xizong fled to Sichuan in panic. The emperor also escaped. Of course, no one manages the prohibition of printing almanac. So people in Jiangdong area compile and sell almanac by themselves. In the first year of Zhonghe in Tang Xizong (AD 88 1 year), the two men printed almanac, and the big moon and the small moon were one day behind each other, which led to an argument. A local official knew about it and said, "Everyone is doing business in the same industry." How can an almanac be one day worse? What the local officials said really made people laugh. This tells us that there are at least two printed almanac in Jiangdong alone.
Liu Pi, who fled to Sichuan with Tang Xizong at that time, also said in the preface of family instruction that he had seen many books about Yin and Yang, miscellaneous notes and dreamers in the bookstore in Chengdu. Most of these books are printed by block printing. It can be seen that the printing industry in Chengdu was relatively developed at that time, not only printing almanac, but also printing various other books.
Only one book carved in the Tang Dynasty is the Diamond Sutra, which was carved by Xian Tong in nine years. It has been more than one thousand years since Xian Tong left in 868. How did this printed matter of more than 1000 years ago survive? This is another story.
There is Mingsha Mountain in the southeast of Dunhuang, Gansu. As early as the Jin Dynasty, some Buddhists made holes here, carved Buddha statues and built temples. With the increase in the number of caves, people call them "Thousand Buddha Cave". 1900, a Taoist king accidentally discovered a closed darkroom while repairing a cave. He opened it, and it was full of bundles of paper rolls, quite a few.
This diamond sutra is about 10 foot long and about 1 foot high. This is a piece of paper consisting of seven printed sheets. There is a picture in front of the book, which vividly shows the fairy tale that Sakyamuni told his disciples, followed by the full text of the Diamond Sutra. Not a single line in the book indicates that it was carved by Xian Tong in nine years.
This book is the earliest block printing book in the world. These pictures are also engraved on a whole page, which may be the earliest printed matter in the world.
During the Five Dynasties, there was a feudal bureaucrat named Feng Dao. Four of his short five generations were high-ranking officials. He is a mean guy. He saw people in Jiangsu and Sichuan selling all kinds of printed books, but there were no Confucian classics. In the third year of Changxing in the late Tang Dynasty, he suggested to the emperor to engrave Confucian classics.
At that time, * * * printed nine kinds of classics, which took four dynasties, and it took 22 years to finish all the engraving in Guangxu three years in the later Zhou Dynasty.
Because this kind of engraving had a great influence, it was of course wrong to think that printing was invented by Feng Dao in the Five Dynasties.
In the Song Dynasty, the printing industry was more developed, and books were engraved all over the country. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Chengdu printed the Tripitaka with 130,000 pieces of rigidity. Imperial academy, the central educational institution of the Northern Song government, has more than100000 books about printing classic history. From these two figures, we can see the scale of printing industry at that time. Now we know that there are more than 700 kinds of books printed by engraving in the Song Dynasty, with neat and concise fonts and elegant appearance, which have been consulted by our people ever since.
Woodcarving was widely used in the Song Dynasty, but some people carved it with copper plates. The Shanghai Museum has copper plates used in the printing advertisement of "Liu Jinan Jiagongfu Needle Shop" in the Northern Song Dynasty, which shows that the technology of carving copper plates was also mastered at that time.
When it comes to printing books, block printing is indeed a great creation. A book carved with a wooden board can print many parts, which is many times faster than handwriting.
But in this case, you have to carve a board once to print a book, and it still takes a lot of manpower, and it is impossible to print a large number of books quickly. Some books have a lot of words, and it often takes years to engrave them. In case the book is printed once and not reprinted, the engraving is completely useless.
Is there any way to improve it?
By the middle of 1 1 century (during the Qing Dynasty in Song Renzong), an inventor named Bi Sheng in China finally invented a more progressive printing method-movable type printing, which greatly improved the printing technology in China.
Bi Sheng made a rectangular column out of clay, carved words on one side, and then hardened it with fire. This is a movable type one by one When printing books, he first prepares an iron plate and puts rosin and wax on it. There are iron frames around the iron plate, which are densely filled with movable type, and then baked under the iron plate with fire to melt rosin and wax.
In order to improve efficiency, he prepared two iron plates and organized two people to work at the same time, one for printing and the other for typesetting; When one board is printed, the second board is ready. The two iron plates are used alternately, and the printing speed is fast.
Bi Sheng carved a few words every word; I often carve more than 20 unfamiliar words with Chinese characters, so I can carve them temporarily and burn them. It is very convenient to put the iron plate on the fire after printing. It can melt rosin and wax, and the movable type can be removed for next use.
This is the earliest invention of movable type printing. This kind of clay type is called clay type. Compared with Printing 2 invented by Bi Sheng today, it is primitive, but the three main steps of movable type printing-making movable type, typesetting and printing-are already available. So Bi Sheng's contribution to printing is very remarkable. Shen Kuo, a famous scientist in the Northern Song Dynasty, specially recorded Bi Sheng's invention in On Meng Xi.
After Bi Sheng invented movable type printing, the Korean people began to print books with clay type, and later printed books with wood type. /kloc-In the 3rd century, they first invented printed books on copper plates. China used copper movable type printing later than North Korea. The Korean people also created lead movable type and iron movable type.
/kloc-At the end of 0/6th century, Japan invaded Korea and took away a lot of Korean copper movable type and wooden movable type. As a result, the Japanese also learned movable type printing.
Printing in China also spread to Viet Nam. /kloc-In the 5th century, Vietnam began to print books with block printing. /kloc-at the beginning of the 0/8th century, they also began to print books with wooden movable type.
The appearance of European printing was also deeply influenced by China printing.
During the Yuan Dynasty, many Europeans came to China. They were very surprised to see that the paper money printed by the Yuan government could be used instead of gold and silver. In their travel notes, China's banknotes were recorded in detail.
At that time, many Europeans who came to China lived in Hangzhou and other places. There are many bookstores in Hangzhou, and the engravers are very skilled. Some Europeans lived there for several years, so naturally they brought printing back to Europe.