The times., 1899-02-12
CHINh'S INVENTION
OF THE PRINTING ART
Claims to Have Annotated
Gutenberg.
Sad ReirogreSsion From Stepping
Stone TO Civilization.
Decree Of the Empress Retardiiig
-, l.
Decree Of the Empress Retarding
ncs>-Japau Far in Advance.

What Tie barbarians of the Western
world 30 not know about the ea-ly history
OF the Celestial Empire will, if the Celes-
tials themselves are to be believed. FL sew
era, heavy tones. Il is difficult to impress
Chinaman peasant or noble though he
be, with conviction that there is now or
ever has beer before any invention which
il some respect has not been antedated by
his fathers. Cinnamon the world over feel
TO the very depths of their hearts that in
knowledge OF law and profundity of wis
dom the great and only Confucius out
shines many regiments of Moseses and
solomons.
One of the latest claims or rather one
that is among the newest of revelations to
the so-calied civilized peop.es OF the eartn,
is that the art OF printing from mOvab e
types was invented in China A. ID. lO41,
which was about five hundred years before
Gutenberg invented movable types in Ger
many.
As explained in an article entitled,
Printing in China and Japan" written for
the Typographical journal by an intel
ligent Chinese gentleman named Lux Sing,
the process was invented by one Pe Caing,
glish. The writer of the article in tle
typographical Journal regrets that the
Chinaman has made little progress in the
art and in the multiplication Of its faci4i-
ties.
Mr.. LUX Sing says:
In common with thousands of my coun-
trymen I deeply regret this backwardn5ss.
a residence Of many years in the United
States, during which / have carried on the
business of purveying news for my brother
Celestials' Il believe that is the term used
frequently by reporters, has shown me
that If China is TO be Of Importance in the
world she must throw of her ancient ways
and adopt those of today, as has been done
in Japan. This Is why every friend of
China must deplore the latest decree of
the Dowager Empress, OF so much fame.
The words of that decree, when translated
into English, read about as follows:
Since newspapers only serve to stir
up the people and 10 tend TO overthrow the
present order OF things. and since writer's
OF newspapers are the dregs of the literary
class, the existence OF such dangerous i'm
plements cannot result in good. We here
by order. therefore, the complete suppress
sion and cessation of all newspapers that
have heretofore appeared in the country.
All publishers and editors will be arrested
and punished with the utmost severity of
the law.
Whether the publishers of Chinese
newspapers in the large cities OF the Unit
ed States and in the Hawaiian Islands will
consider themselves as affected by the pro-
visions OF this cruel mandate remains to
be seen. Probably they Will cease TO pub
lish their newspapers. But what must the
American printer think when he is told
that only fifty-siX newspapers were affected
by the PRONUNCIATION Of this decree. Only
ffty-six newspapers for a population of
hundreds OF millions Truly are We
backward nation in some respects; but We
live in hopes that the existing order of
things viii give place TO one more fitting
for q great nation.
There are, as near as l can remember,
about 45 600 characters in the language
and their formation is such that there is
little likelihood of their ever being set by
machine; besides. there is no demand for
typesetting ccntrivances. The difficulty
about the characters is also felt by the few
Ielegraphers in China. Whether the letters
of the Roman alphabet VIII ever be adopt
ed remains for the future TO decide. OF
The characters. about lO.000 to u, 900 are
in use in large Offices; in small ones, from
5000 to 5000. Each character contains an
other character, that is. when used by it
self. The characters are not always writ
ten in the same way. our books are print
ed very differently from the European way.
We begin at the end. the title on the COW
er being in the upper lefr-hand corner.
The Title-page comes next, the title being
IN the middle. in very large letters, for US.
We always print thereon the year of the
emperor who happens 10 be alive. and also
The name Of the tablishment. or the i'm
print. as il is called here. The next pages
contain preface, index. etc. followed by
the letterpress. The columns read from
right 10 left and the characters from the
top 10 the bottom
l..
in China. at Macao. in the year 1913, for
the purpose Of printing a dictionary and
other books useful in learning our Ian
guace. / am informed that the great go
srument printing Office in Paris has
complete font OF Chinese type. ard / should
not be surprised 10 learn that the similar
institutions in Berlin ana Vienna. AT which
cities our country IS represented by min
isters or ambassadors. also have sets Of
Chinese characters"
Explaining the methods OF getting oct
Chinese newspaper in his country. Mr.
LUX Sing says the mechanical department
IS the pressToCin the enc pressman being
the only skilled workman about the place.
There are no printers Think OF il, In
the Office of the fin de steele II picked that
up from your EeWspapersJ Chinese news
paper printed n this country there are no
typesetung machines. no cases, no presses.
no imposing stones 0T any Of the para
Uhernalia' 50 necessary 20 the American
printer. We manage things vel a different
u. AS managing editor" l take sheet
81 paper and rule il into columns with the
aid Of an ordinary steel pen. We do not
Think II necessary 10 use ruled paper The
ink We use is Of our own make. and We
must be adopts IL its manufacture. When
The rule work Is finished / take up my
writing brush. II you have not seen Il
Chinese writing brush. any Of your Chinese
friends VIII show you one. maybe your
laundryman. with this writing brush !
carefully print the title of the paper
When This is finished the paper is placed
on board that slaHts somewhat where
fl rests until Pass upon the items to be
inserted. then hand the items 10 the
gentleman v no is called in your newspaper
Offices the news editor. The latter goes
10 the form and draws each character in
each article, carefully following orders
nbout size Of letters and display. The re-
porters also 10 their share Of this work.
usually al he same time. one at each of
the only two pages Of the paper.
When the writing is done the pressnan
removes the foTm TO his workplace and
places il, face down, on a stone, similar to
those used ia HthcRraphy. He vets the
back Of it thoroughly with a soft sponge.
awhile patting il gentle with his hand
and pressing if. When thoroughly soaked