“Wutai Poetry Case” And The Book Ban Of The Northern Song Dynasty After It,Under The Background Of The Printing Media Revolution

Printing media began in the Sui and Tang Dynasties and flourished in the Northern Song Dynasty.Because of the technological progress of low reproduction cost and high transmission efficiency,the folk publishing industry is booming.In the Northern Song Dynasty,there were many publications and literary works spread quickly like news,which gave writers the power to influence public opinion even before they were alive.For thousands of years,the tradition of “ criticizing with poetry”,which has endowed rationality with the function of political literary criticism,is facing unprecedented impact.Su Shi’s“Wu Tai Poetry Case”took place under this background.His poems against “ Xi Ning Reform ” were published by profit-seeking booksellers and then discovered and reported by hostile imperial officials.“Wu Tai Poetry Case”is the first poetic case in Chinese history where printed publications are the evidence of crime.From the historical records and related historical materials of this event,posterity can see various disputes caused by media management at that time,including the confrontation of public opinion between“criticizing with poetry”and“punishing them because of their literature”,and the judicial dilemma between“law is used by judicial departments”and“the emperor decides the law”.These rich historical details present the problems brought about by the printing media revolution.After this incident,“Che Gai Ting Poetry Case”and“Chong Ning Literature Ban”came one after another.“Che Gai Ting Poetry Case”is the largest poetry case in the Northern Song Dynasty,and the target of attack is transferred from communication behavior to communication content.“Chong Ning Literature Ban”is an unprecedented phenomenon of cultural absolutism,which further radicalizes the publishing censorship system.These three events happened before and after,but in fact they were closely related and deepened step by step,which jointly worsened the political atmosphere in the middle and later period of the Northern Song Dynasty and intensified the irrational party struggle of the scholar-officials.It restrained the good momentum of political poetry development in the early and middle period of the Northern Song Dynasty and led to the low tide of poetry achievement and the change of style.It hindered the cultural publishing and dissemination activities in the middle and late period of the Northern Song Dynasty and affected the prosperity and progress of literary and cultural undertakings.Su Shi got both fame and misfortune in publishing his poems,which was the precocious result of the printing media revolution in feudal times.We can’t look at the issues related to“Wu Tai Poetry Case”from the background of printing media.