Question

influence of urban culture on printing in china

Answer 1

With the blooming of urban culture, the uses of print diversified. Print was no longer used just by scholar-officials.

(ii) Merchants also started using print in their everyday life, to collect trade information Reading increasingly became a leisure activity.

(iii) The readers preferred fictional narratives, poetry, autobiographies, anthologies of literary masterpieces and romantic plays.

(iv) Rich women began to read a great variety of books and many women began to publish their poetry and plays. Wives of scholar-officials published their works, and courtesans started writing about their lives.

Answer 2

The shift from hand printing to mechanical printing is termed as print revolution .For a period of one hundred years ,between 1450 and 1550 printing press were set up all over the Europe .In the 16th century about 200 million copies were sold in the European market .The book production  boomed in Europe . In mid 15th century 20 million copies of printed books flooded in the market.Expert printers and technicians from Germany travelled to other countries ,seeking jobs and helping start new presses.