On Engraving Printed Matter Unearthed In Dunhuang Sutra-Hidden Caves

Typography is one of the four great technological inventions of ancient China and it has contributed greatly to the civilizations of human beings and has always been paid much attention by scholars at home and abroad. Owing to the facts that typography is created a long time ago and Chinese ancient people belittle science and technology and there are scarce materials and documents, Chinese people have a vague understanding of this proud creation for a long period of time. In the early twentieth century, a series of engraving printed matter were unearthed in Dunhuang sutra-hidden caves and these engraving printed matters were mainly made from 9th to 10th century, that is, the Late Tang Dynasty, Wudai Dynasty and the Early Song Dynasty. According to their practical application, Dunhuang engraving printed matters can be classified into two types, religious and non-religious.The religious printed matters mainly include print and Buddhist sutra. According to the forms, Dunhuang print can be divided into thousand-Buddhist print and single-page Buddhist print, etc. As an important component of Dunhuang arts, Dunhuang print has obviously been influenced by some art forms such as fresco and so on. Meanwhile, the development of Dunhuang print has exerted profound influence on the New Year Paintings and illustrations thereafter and it occupies a critical position in the arts history.Due to the limitations of social demand, finance and the printing technology, mainly Vajracchedik Sutra and Saddharmapundarika Sutra are printed. The scroll binding and folding binding forms, etc. are commonly seen in Dunhuang engraving sutra. Besides the influence of people's reading habit, the change of the thickness of the paper has also been one of the main reasons that influences the binding form.As a result of close relation with people's daily life, the non-religious printed matters especially such as calendar, yun dictionary, etc. were sold to Dunhuang by businessmen after being printed in the printing house in Chang'an and Sichuan, etc.The function of the printed matter is to replicate and distribute information and there is no exception to Dunhuang printed matter. This paper, based on the social background of Dunhuang printed matter circulation, adopts the theories of mass communication to research the advantage, effect and significance of the circulation of the printed matter, which enables us to have a better understanding of Dunhuang printed matter.