Introduction
摘要
It’s essential to clearly define printing technology before studying the history of printing. As the connotation of printing varies at different periods, printing technology is supposed to be defined in diversified ways. Printing emerged after the advent of paper and presupposes the existence of paper, which must be taken into account when it comes to the definition of printing technology. In fact, the history of printing cannot be equated to the history of printing books, as printed materials, mostly in the form of books, also include tickets, banknotes or paper money, and census registers as research objects. Thus, it is improper to simply classify the history of printing as the history of printing books. Printing is related to use of seals, which, in fact, does not entail printing activities per se since it had existed before the invention of paper. Modern printing evolves from ancient printing, but there are differences between the two. Modern printing is also different from both ancient and early modern printing.