Sibao Town Block Printing: Historic Treasures are Precious for Next Generations

四堡雕版印刷：前世之宝 后世宝之

The precious cultural relics of a large amount of blocksand ancient books,etc.have been kept by Sibao Town.(photo by Wu Dexiang)

四堡今天依然保存着大量雕版和古籍等珍贵文物。吴德祥 摄

Sibao BlockPrinting has been passed down for some hundred years. (Photo by Huang Shuilin)

四堡雕版印刷历经数百年传承。黄水林 摄

China is the birthplace for international printing industry. And the block printing was the frontier in the world, which was transmitted to Asian and African countries. The technique has a history of 1400 years, and it was started in Tang Dynasty, boomed in Song Dynasty, and reached its peak in Min and Qing Dynasties.

中国是世界印刷业的故乡，曾远传亚非各国的雕版印刷，更是开世界印刷术之先河。中国雕版印刷技术，始于唐，兴于宋，盛于明清，至今已有1400年的历史。

In Min and Qing Dynasties, Sibao Village of Liancheng County was one of the four bases for domestic printing, which has maintained the well-kept block printing sites in China. At the prosperous moment, books printed by Sibao town had high reputation in South China and was popular throughout the country, even shipped to Southeast Asian countries along maritime silk road. Hence,the books made enormous contribution  for the communication to the south fo the Chinese civilization,and becamethe envoys of Chinese culture at the ancient maritime silk road.

明清时期，连城县四堡乡作为我国民间雕版印刷四大基地之一，现拥有我国保存较为完整的雕版印刷遗址。最盛时，四堡所印书籍不仅享誉江南、行销全国，还沿着海上丝绸之路远销东南亚国家，成为古老海丝路上的中华文化“使者”，为中华文明的南传作出重大贡献。

(Article provided by Longyan Media Convergence Center)

（龙岩市融媒体中心供稿）