The history of book-drying in book-drying festival

"Books of past dynasties are more abundant in Qin than in Sui and Tang Dynasties" (Song History Literature and Art, Zhonghua Book Company l977). Although the collection of books in Sui and Tang Dynasties was rich before Song Dynasty, the official printed books were rare in historical materials. It has always been the responsibility of the secretary to take charge of the national books. From the Tang Dynasty to Wu Zetian, "On September 5th of the first year of Guangzhai, the secretary province was changed to Lin Tai" ("Secretary Province of Tang Yao Hui", Wenyuange Siku Quanshu). As can be seen from the existing historical materials, the official attention to book printing began in the Song Dynasty, and the most striking thing was the "book exposure meeting". However, the book exposure meeting was held according to Lin Tai's story (Song Chenjun's The Pavilion of the Southern Song Dynasty, Volume 6, The Complete Works of Wenyuan Pavilion). From this point of view, there should be books exposure in the Tang Dynasty.

The exposure of books in Song Dynasty has been recorded in the notes of Song people. Song Cai tapestry "Tieweishan Congtan" (volume 1) said: "Ministers will have meetings when they are young, and the number is book exposure meeting. When all the attendants gather, the position is the title. In Yuanfeng, he is a calligrapher in China, and his uncle Wen is a teacher. When the Qing left class was here, Wen said that books would be exposed in the pavilion, which was not strict with the court. He was willing to take his brother as a second time, so he took Lu Gong's seat. It is all later, and the world is proud. " According to Hong Mai's Four Stories of Rongzhai in the Southern Song Dynasty, Kelvin Chen's Pavilion in the Southern Song Dynasty and Yi Ming's Pavilion in the Southern Song Dynasty, there are cultural activities such as "uncovering books" in Shaoxing, Song Gaozong, Song Xiaozong, Xichun and Qingyuan, Song Ningzong. Generally speaking, the book exposure in the Song Dynasty will have the following aspects: First, it will be presided over by the secretary province in charge of books and specifically undertaken by the Lin 'an government. Second, the time of the book exposure meeting was mostly on July 5 and 6, 73. However, the real time for drying books sometimes drags on for a long time. For example, on May 7th, 14th year of Shaoxing, Secretary Zhang Yan suggested: "People in this province will be exposed to books in summer, starting from May 1st and ending on July 1st." As long as two months. Third, there is a special appropriation every year, ranging from 300 to 1000. Fourth, participants have identity restrictions, but they are generally not exactly the same. For example, in the thirteenth year of Shaoxing (1 143), attendants, admonishers, righteous officials, former library posts and post posts all went; In the fifth year of Xichun (1 178)n, 48 people were required to attend the meeting, such as attendants, giving home and remonstrating on the stage, saying that they were above the official position, before the post, after the post. In the eleventh year of Xichun, there were attendants, Taiwan remonstrators, officials from two provinces and former librarians sitting together. Fifth, the list of participants should be carved out as a souvenir. From the "two-step relocation department, the monument will be published in the title of the participant", and a "worship pavilion waiting for relocation" will be set up in the provincial capital of the secretariat. There will be golden chairs, tables and green cloth curtains. Later, there was a general history institute on the road, which included 16, 17, 29 and 30 years of Shaoxing's book exposure meetings, and Jiunian Avenue was marked by the inscription of the imperial seal of the Prime Minister Qi Guogong Group (the Southern Song Dynasty Pavilion recorded the houses of various provinces). Sixth, during the conference, there will be a banquet and reward for wine and food. For example, there were four Confucian halls in the national dynasties, and in the Tang Dynasty, there were Zhao Wen Hall, History Hall, Jixian Academy and Secret Pavilion. ..... Look at the ground clearly, no celebrity can go anywhere ... To worship Ning, to be important in politics and to publicize, ministers' children should get married, which is excessive among literary and vulgar officials in Qian Gu, and literati are worthless. But except this one, whoever goes to the library to worship the pavilion will have a grand banquet, and those who invite the three pavilions will have a banquet, and all the autumn book banquets will have seats "(Song Rongzhai's Four Volumes, the First Pavilion and the Secret Pavilion of the Three Pavilions", Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House. 190,618-619). In the twenty-ninth year of Shaoxing, the book fair in June was "eat five products in the morning, tea fruit in the afternoon and seven products in the evening". Distribute Taiping Guangji 1 copy, Chunqiu Zuozhuan 1 copy, Secret Pavilion and Shiqu. Seventh, there are many things that need to be exposed, including pictures, antiques and Qin Yanshi. The general situation is as follows: "This is a day, and you set up a square table to list imperial books and pictures. The first line of antiques on the East Wall, two or three lines of pictures, four lines of celebrity ink, and the same is true of the West Wall; The southeast wall is inlaid with ancestral imperial books, and so is the southwest wall. There is an antique piano and inkstone behind the royal screen. There are maps on the road, on the mountain, in the hall, in the back porch and in the court. Open the subset of classics and history, continue to search the library and watch it separately. "Judging from the fact that the Southern Song Dynasty has more relevant historical materials than the Northern Song Dynasty, it seems that the Southern Song Dynasty attaches more importance to printed books than the Northern Song Dynasty. Why is this happening? The main reason is that Hangzhou, the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, is located in the southeast, and the humidity is very heavy. Printing books has always been a local habitual activity, and so has the government.

This was the case in the Song Dynasty, and so was the case in the Yuan Dynasty. For example, in the Secretary's Record written by Wang Shidian in the Yuan Dynasty, there are related records: "In the fifteenth year of Yuan Dynasty (1278), on May 11th, the secretary took photos: supervising painting and calligraphy, etc. , should be monitored by the official in a timely manner, and carefully check and expose the son (son) to avoid being eaten by insects. According to the reply, he will go to North Taiwan Province. (Wen Yuan Gusku Full Book Edition)

In the Ming Dynasty, the management of official books was lax. During the Hongzhi and Zhengde periods, the royal collection of books had reached a state of "no one asked, and it was gradually lost". In this regard, Zhu Yizun, a scholar in the Qing Dynasty, once pointed out: "It is extremely cautious to test the collection of books in Tang, Song and Yuan Dynasties, and to offer books, collect books, search books and uncover books in time. In the Ming dynasty, there were millions of ministers, and one official kept the responsibility. Everyone is born, and I don't know how to love ... one hundred years have passed, and no book has been written. On the third day of Wanli ... the school left a legacy, but only local chronicles were left, and the classics were lost ... Those who know can only sigh. " In fact, many people of insight in the Ming Dynasty noticed this serious phenomenon and put forward suggestions for book collection. For example, in order to preserve books, Qiu Rong, a college student, repeatedly called for the restoration of Song Zhongxia's book case. Qiu Rong's suggestion is undoubtedly a good suggestion, and Ming Xiaozong also agreed, but unfortunately it was not put into practice in the end. This is probably one of the factors that led to the loss of books in the Ming Dynasty.

Shengjing (now Shenyang), the capital of the Qing Dynasty, was built before entering the customs. After entering the customs and moving the capital to Beijing, Shengjing, as the capital, still kept a large number of ancient books and records, and the baking system was also used to a certain extent: "Shengjing's internal affairs office respected canon and documents for more than 200 years, and it has been increasing repeatedly. ..... The upper floor of Jingdian Pavilion is dedicated to the nine generations of sacred capacity, with nine boxes; There are four boxes of Happy Map, which are hung by ministers accompanying Beijing in spring and autumn every year. " (China and unofficial history Integration Continuation, Volume 4, Notes on the Imperial Dynasty, Volume 27, Bookstore, 2000, p. 363) Wen Yuan Pavilion was an important collection place for the government in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, in which the management of books was relatively perfect. In the Qing Dynasty, Wen Yuanting was appointed, which was roughly equivalent to the secretary province of the previous generation. Its far Chinese cabinet is in charge of the cabinet, and there are six people in Manchu and Han, who are in charge of specific affairs: "in charge of the compilation, taking turns and straightening." Where the Spring and Autumn Books are exposed, the director will lead the management. "("Official List of Past Dynasties "Volume 25" Complete Works of Wen Yuan Gusku ") In the early Qing Dynasty, the government's book collection system was sound and management was in place, which brought a very good prerequisite for the prosperity of book compilation at that time.

In the mid-Qing Dynasty and later, the collection management of Wen Yuan Library was not as good as before. Although the system of printing books still exists, the day of printing books is often the time when books are stolen. "In the early Qing Dynasty, the Wuying Temple edition books were exquisite. The printing plate was stored in an empty house next to the temple. It was not printed often for many years and was stolen and sold countless times. ..... Wen Yuan Pavilion spends more than ten days in the sun once a year. Naoko, a bachelor, doesn't take care of him personally or entrust him to wait on him, so he steals it every time he basks in the sun. There are also bachelors who steal by themselves, but the books they steal are all zero. If most of them are dozens, they can't be stolen. Investigate its disadvantages, all take the country as a private disease. This is unfair to the people and private officials. I don't know if it's official, but the folks are untouched aborigines. The collections of the East and West Museums are managed by local gentlemen, and are not in the hands of officials, so they are preserved forever "(Sitting Old Man's The Robbery Edition of Wuyingtang, unofficial history Volume in Qing Dynasty, Bashu Bookstore, 1988, 102). The rare books that were originally maintained by printing books were stolen by some officials and bachelors who were "self-serving", which would lead to the loss of books. From this perspective, printing books has advantages and disadvantages. The root cause lies not in the system of printing books, but in the people who print books.