Woodblock Printing by the Mu Chieftains of Lijiang

Abstract

Woodblock printing activities of chieftain are worthy of attention in the history of publishing in China. The woodblock printing activities of the Mu (木氏) chieftains of Lijiang (麗江) is a representative case. This paper first clarifies some relevant problems which could not be solved by previous studies. According to the research statistics, there are up to 34 block-printed editions published by chieftain Mu. The woodblock printing activities of chieftain Mu took place during the reign of Six Masters in the Mu Family (木氏六公). The locations where these books were made were not fixed. The character of these editions is Suzhou (蘇州) style appreciated by Chinese traditional literati. Originating from Three Immortal Deeds of Confucianism and Buddhist concept of merits, these books can be divided into Mu’s works, historical materials for family and religious books. Chinese characters and minority writings both were applied in these books, which is different from other private printing. The woodblock printing activities of chieftain Mu not only holds a place in the history of publishing in China, but also is an important sign of cultural identity in Tusi (土司) areas. (Article content in Chinese with English extended abstract)

Keywords

• chieftain
• the history of publishing
• woodblock printing
• minority nationalities
• mu chieftains of lijiang