Researches On Traditional Chinese Techniques Of Ink Stick Production

Traditional Chinese production of ink stick is one of the essential techniques in ancient times, which is inherited and improved into a mature system during a long period of time at least lasting for two thousand years, and has conceived a wide and marvelous ink culture which is of great meaning to the development of the politics and economy of the society and the inheritance of Chinese ancient civilization.The occurrence and development of Chinese traditional production of ink stick is analyzed and discussed in the dissertation from the angle of inheritance and continuity of the ink technology. Meanwhile the procedure and main points of the production of ink stick are compared and some questions concerned on the development of the technology are discussed.As one of the two most important types of Chinese ink, the turpine-soot ink is produced earlier than the oil-soot ink in the history of Chinese artificial ink production over two thousand years. The two production systems are interwoven with each other though each has a clear production procedure. Therefore, investigated is Chinese traditional production of ink stick on the basis of the two different production of the two types of ink stick. For further discussion of the main factors of the production and inheritance of the technology, the production of the turpine-soot ink and is compared with that of the oil-soot ink.The history of the production of the turpine-soot ink can be divided into some phases, that is, sprouted in Qin dynasty, constructed in East Han dynasty, improved in Wei-Jin dynasty and finally the climax in Tang and Song dynasties. However, the production of the oil-soot ink can be separated into other different phases, which took shape in Nan-Bei dynasty, existed with the turpine-soot ink in Tang and Song, consummated in Ming and Qing. The essay corrects the wrong viewpoint of the former researchers who thought the oil-ink came out in Tang dynasty. Traditional production of ink stick can be separated into two clear periods in the long period of development, that is, the production of turpine-soot ink prevailed before Song, whereas, the oil-soot ink took the position after Song.On the basis of the analysis and sum-up of the development history of ink-stick, the essay points out that traditional development of the ink-stick underwent five great breakthroughs and three key periods.The first great breakthrough is that turpine-soot became the raw material instead of the natural material, second the glue was affixed, third the ink modules were used in the production, fourth traditional Chinese drugs were used as the additive materials, and fifth oil-soot was used as the raw material. The three key periods are constituted by the form of traditional ink-stick production systems in Han Dynasty, the existence of the turpine-soot ink and oil-soot ink with the attention to both the shape and the quality in Song and with more attention to the shape than the quality in Ming. Based on the researches of the literature and analysis of the ancient production of the ink-stick, the dissertation discusses the construction procedure of Chinese ink culture system and the influence of the culture expression on the long production history of the ink-stick production techniques.The second part of the dissertation is the analysis of the turpine-soot ink. The part compares the burning techniques of turpentine soot in ancient times with that in modern times. From some different angles analyzed and discussed are the principles of the choosing of the turpine, five methods of the turpine burning by ancient people, the principles and the influence of additive materials, the preparation and the use of the glue, the essential points in the form of the technology and so on.The third part analyzes China oil-soot ink craft. It discusses the principle of choosing oil, the points about oil immersion and common rush dyeing, and the effect on ink production. Also, it expounds in detail seven ancient methods of oil refining. In the steps of mix and shaping, the technical processes of China oil-soot ink and Turpentine-soot ink are the same and will not be discussed separately.When analyzing ink production craft, by comparing parts of the ancient China oil-soot ink firing craft and Turpentine-soot ink firing craft in the documents, the dissertation points out the advantages and disadvantages of all craft and restores some ancient craft by drawing.The article compares the two ink production craft with each other from the products'evaluation to the development history. By analyzing the production possibility frontier, the technology progress coefficient and production constraint condition, it draws a conclusion that in fact Turpentine-soot ink appeared earlier than China oil-soot ink and explains the reasons why China oil-soot ink replaced Turpentine-soot ink and became the main craft in ink production industry.In the analysis of craft, abundant on-site surveys are provided in the dissertation about modern China oil-soot ink firing craft, modern Turpentine-soot ink firing craft, modern ink production and characteristics of modern ink products, in order to compare ancient and modern craft's differences and understand craft inheritance better.Based on the main research, the dissertation not only describes the ink production craft history and compares two methods of the crafts, but also debates several problems in the ink production development. Through comprehensive scrutiny of documents of different periods, by applying modern natural science knowledge and using analysis methods, effect and usage principle of glue in ink production is discussed. Eventually the dissertation points out the mistakes about Turpentine-soot refining craft documented in Exploitation of the Works of Nature (Song Ying Xing) and comes to primary concludes about Turpentine-soot ink's medicinal use.