Show the long history of printing culture

During the period of the Republic of China, the Commercial Press and China Book Company became outstanding representatives of national printing enterprises. In the center of the exhibition hall is a hand-pulled printing machine made in 1929, the black iron fuselage is simple and low-key, but the bronze nameplate inlaid with "Repair after the national disaster" highlights its special - it was cleared from the ruins of the Commercial Press after the "January 28" incident in 1932, witnessing the rebirth of national printing enterprises in the war.

In the early 1930s, the establishment of the printing plant in the revolutionary base area opened the prelude to the development of the red printing industry. A small and light wooden printing press caught the reporter's eye. The size of a small suitcase, it weighs just over 30 kilograms and is so easy to assemble and disassemble that it can be pulled by a mule. It was manufactured for the needs of guerrilla newspapers during the Anti-Japanese War and was known as the "printing press on horseback". In the exhibition hall, newspapers and books printed and published in the revolutionary base areas are also displayed, and these red cultural relics tell the story of the hard struggle and unremitting struggle of the older generation of printers at the moment of national crisis.

After the founding of New China, national printing enterprises and red printing factories together formed the emerging Chinese printing industry and became an important force in the industrialization of New China.

In order to promote the development of Chinese character printing technology, in August 1974, the national key scientific and technological research project "Chinese Character Information Processing System Project" (referred to as "748" project) was launched. Professor Wang Xuan of Peking University, as the technical director of the "748" project, presided over the development of Chinese laser typeset system, which compressed Chinese characters through dot matrix and calculation methods, so that computers can recognize Chinese characters, and solved the problem of combining Chinese information processing with printing and publishing. Since then, China's printing industry has bid farewell to "lead and fire" and entered the era of "light and electricity".

The request report of the "748" project, the research manuscript of Wang Xuan, the prototype of the laser phototypeset system, and the first sample book successfully discharged using the original prototype...... They have witnessed the birth of Chinese laser phototypesetting system. Also on display is a copy of the Economic Daily on May 22, 1987, the first example of laser phototypeset technology being used in the Chinese newspaper industry. Next to it is the last piece of print used by the Economic Daily, which silently tells the transformation of China's printing industry from lead fire to photoelectric.

Experience print culture

Into the "printing machine treasure" exhibition hall, a variety of printing machinery and equipment is eye-opening. Type casting machine, manual phototypesetting machine, stone printing machine produced in Austria in 1892, the world's only existing by the United States Mili Company in 1926 made double full sheet two-color offset press... These machines date from 1865 to the early 1990s and cover the entire process of pre-press, printing and post-press processing.

Research ink, brush ink, rubbing, paper, a beautiful zodiac or solar term map presented on the paper; With mallet, water basin, paper curtain, wiper board and other tools, according to the "Tiangong Kaisu" recorded in the paper flow chart by hand to make a piece of paper... In the interactive experience area on the first floor of the museum, interesting interactive experience projects let teenagers feel the charm of traditional printing culture.

As a national patriotic education demonstration base and a national science popularization education base, China Printing Museum relies on its collection of cultural relics to do a good job in exhibition, publicity and education. It launches original touring exhibitions such as "The Light of Chinese Printing" and "Edition Vientian-Collection Wood Engraving Exhibition", and holds special exhibitions such as the printing and Publishing exhibition for the centennial of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the printing and Publishing Achievement Exhibition for the 40th anniversary of reform and opening up. We provide red theme visits, Party history learning classes and other services for the public, and develop a variety of traditional cultural experience activities. In the museum, visitors can experience the ancient paper-making fan, zodiac engraving printing, movable type printing of ancient poetry, color overprint New Year pictures, and thread-bound books, etc., and make their own traditional cultural gifts to take home. In addition, the China Printing Museum also carries out activities such as "My Day in the Museum", "Printing into the campus, curriculum into the classroom" and exhibition into the community, so as to let the printing culture fly into the homes of the people and take root in the hearts of primary and secondary school students in various forms.