Presenters and Presentations

Movable Type, Immovable Syllabary: Manchu and Language Learning in Qing China

Manchu, the native language of the Qing rulers (1644–1911), occupied an important place within the empire. Qing emperors personally hand-corrected Manchu translations, the imperial printery produced hundreds of Manchu-language books, and the script appeared prominently on signs and steles across Beijing. Yet although the Qing court employed movable type for Chinese, it never did so for Manchu. Why?

This paper explores that question in three parts. It first traces earlier uses of movable type for non-Chinese scripts, including Tangut experiments in the twelfth century, to show that both the concept and technology of non-Chinese movable type long predated the Qing. It then turns to later projects that ultimately did produce Manchu type — most notably those of French Sinologists in the 1780s and the 1830s translation of the New Testament — to demonstrate that printing Manchu with movable type was materially possible.

By contrasting these examples with the Qing court’s exclusive reliance on woodblock printing for Manchu texts, the paper argues that the absence of Manchu movable type was not due to lack of precedent, technical capacity, cost, or even — as is sometimes suggested — the desire to keep Manchu a “secret” language. Instead, it suggests that the way Manchu was learned and conceptualized as a syllabary posed a fundamental obstacle: unlike alphabetic scripts, its syllabic units were not understood as discrete forms. The Manchu script, therefore, remained pedagogically and thus materially resistant to typographic abstraction.

Movable Type and Tokugawa Internationalism: The Case of Yoshida Kōton

At the end of the eighteenth century, kaozheng (empirical studies) trends from China arrived in Japan and provided Japanese scholars with the opportunity to engage with new evidence based research methods for Sinology. The Mito domain scholar, Yoshida Kōton, became an immediate proponent of these approaches and promoting new approaches to the history of bibliography. As part of this project, Yoshida did two rather remarkable things. First, he wrote a brief monograph on the history of movable type printing, An Investigation into Movable Type Editions (Kappan keiseki kō 活版経籍考). This was the first ever history of movable type written in East Asia, and circulated in a large number of manuscript copies. Secondly, he began printing his own editions of the Analects and the Mencius using movable type based on Qianlong court models.

In this paper, I will introduce Kōton and his context. I will demonstrate how Chinese book culture shaped the early development of Japanese bibliographical practices. We will explore how Qing movable type editions circulated to create a Sinocentric bibliographic awareness in Northeast Asia. Next, through a close examination of  Kōton‘s work, I will explore how Sinocentrism wrote both Korean and European movable types out of his narratives of the history of movable type. In the final section of the paper we will examine his movable type editions and some of their novel features.

The Concepts of Movable Type and Typography: Are They Historically Useful?

I will unpack the connotations of the terms “movable type” and “typography,” and argue that they are inappropriate to use when discussing type in a global context. E.g., “reproducibility,” not “movability” is the characteristic of type with the most economic and historical implications. It differs greatly between various East Asian versions of type making: there is also no such one category as “East Asian” type.

Connotations to be discarded are movable type = modernity = increase availability of books = (the Eisenstein arguments). Also to be questioned is whether the usual meanings of “typography” (“consistent design, standardization”) depend on the use of type: moves to readability, legibility, or aligning type design with specific uses, do not depend on the use of type; one can have typography without type.

It’s not the movability (and re-use) that is the most salient aspect of type; it is its reproducibility: how easy is it to get new type when old type is worn out? That differs based upon the technology used:  punches, sand-casting of metal, direct metal engraving (of a matrix, or of type itself), wood, clay, porcelain etc. These technologies all have different economic implications in matters such as ease of making (time, expenses, availability of material), what to do when the type is worn out, or design standardization; whether the results are used for commercial purposes or not. And it is not movable type as such, but changes in type production and printing presses that changed the East Asian landscape in the 19^th century. Modern printing is a hybrid of the advantages of type combined with those of woodblocks; tongue-in-cheek. one could rewrite the history of Western printing as “the search for a woodblock.”

How Song-Dynasty Paper Money and Early Movable Type Shaped Currency Design in Eastern and Western Cultures

When was the last time you held a paper bill in your hand and really looked at it, instead of just swiping a card or using a digital wallet? What do you notice about the design, the type, or the history it carries? This presentation explores how early Chinese movable type used in Song-dynasty paper money and later experiments in the Ming and Qing periods established visual, structural, and state-guided principles that continued to influence Chinese banknote design in the modern era. By viewing currency typography as part of a long tradition of East Asian typographic practice, the study shows how premodern typecasting, stroke construction, modular thinking, and official government fonts shaped both the style and function of monetary design. Drawing on historical case studies, the presentation explains how early movable type both competed with and worked alongside woodblock printing, and how its distinctive visual features resurfaced in twentieth-century banknotes. The analysis then places these developments within broader East Asian and selected Western contexts, showing how state and commercial printing practices created typographic traditions that still echo in today’s financial documents. In conclusion, the presentation argues that premodern East Asian typography continues to influence contemporary currency design and archival practices, revealing a wider cross-cultural story that connects early movable type with the visual identity of modern money.

Moveable Mysteries: Mapping Korean Type Collections Across North America

This essay examines nine Korean moveable type collections in North America and the surprise discovery of their interconnected provenance. The collections include nearly 300 metal and wood type specimens from the following institutions: the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.; the Newberry Library and the Field Museum in Chicago; the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto; Columbia University in New York; Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum in Cambridge, Massachusetts; the University of California at Berkeley and Los Angeles; and the Zamorano Club archive in Los Angeles. Despite their frequently outdated (or lack of) documentation, the collections epitomize an important shift of Chosŏn-era (1392–1897) type production and printing practices: the earliest specimens were cast at the royal foundry (Chujaso 鑄字所) and predate Gutenberg, whereas the latest include wood type from the private sector. Through archival research and the use of a visual “key” to identify and link the types, the author determined that they were linked to James Scarth Gale (1863–1937), a Canadian scholar-missionary who lived in Korea from 1888 to 1927. While aspects of their journey from Korea to the West remain unclear, they collectively symbolize Gale’s passion for pre-modern Korean literature, as evidenced by his pioneering literary translation work, numerous articles on early Korean typography, and book-collecting efforts on behalf of clients in Korea and abroad. After his passing in 1937, his personal type collection was divided and sold by his nephew, Esson McDowell Gale (1884–1964), between 1938 and the early 1950s. This survey offers a brief introduction to the two Gales, the historical context in which they acquired and sold type, an overview of each collection, and new insights into their unusual distribution in Canada and the United States. The essay concludes with a summary of other known Korean type holdings in the United States.

Beyond the Tangut Realm: Circulation and Reuse of Tangut Buddhist Prints in Turfan

The Tangut kingdom of Daxia, which flourished in eastern Central Asia between the 11th and 13th centuries, developed a highly sophisticated printing culture and technology. Situated between China and Tibet, the Tanguts adopted numerous cultural elements from both civilizations. Their rulers actively promoted Buddhism through the sponsorship, publication, and distribution of extensive Buddhist literature in the indigenous Tangut script, produced using both woodblock and movable-type printing. The largest cache of Tangut texts, discovered in 1909 at Khara-khoto (Inner Mongolia), has long served as the primary source for understanding Tangut culture and history. In contrast, the smaller and less studied collection of Tangut Buddhist prints unearthed in Turfan remain insufficiently researched.

This paper introduces 27 underexamined fragments of Tangut Buddhist woodblock and movable-type prints excavated in Turfan by German expeditions in the early 20th century and now held in the Berlin State Library, the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, and the Museum of Asian Art in Dahlem. The presence of Tangut woodblock prints in Turfan demonstrates that Tangut texts widely circulated across eastern Central Asia, beyond the Tangut linguistic sphere. Based on close analysis of this collection, I argue that these Tangut woodblock fragments were actively recycled and used as repair materials for other Buddhist texts and works of art.

“Jungdogaja” and Jikji: The Metal Movable Type Printing Technology of Goryeo

This study seeks to move beyond the Eurocentric narrative of printing history by illuminating the technological and cultural achievements of Korea’s metal movable type printing during the Goryeo dynasty (13th–14th centuries). Particular attention is given to Jikji, printed at Heungdeok Temple in Cheongju in 1377, and to the recently reported “Jungdogaja,” which has drawn considerable scholarly interest as the earliest extant specimen of metal movable type. The “Jungdogaja” has been identified as the actual type used to print the Buddhist text Jungdoga in 1239—predating Jikji by 138 years—and its discovery has significantly reshaped academic discourse on the origins of movable type. While the invention of metal movable type is often attributed exclusively to Gutenberg in 15th-century Germany, the historical record demonstrates that printing technologies originated in East Asia. Woodblock printing was well established, and the principle of movable type —creating reusable characters to facilitate faster and more efficient printing—was first conceived in China during the Song dynasty. The Goryeo contribution lies in the practical realization of this principle through the use of bronze, thereby achieving a technological innovation of global significance. This paper examines recent scientific analyses of the “Jungdogaja,” reviews the accumulated research findings, and situates Jikji in comparative perspective with Gutenberg’s printing technology. Through this comparative framework, it explores the distinctive characteristics of East Asian movable type printing and evaluates its broader implications for world history.

Clay Block Printing and Popular Historiography: An Eighteenth-Century Typographical Experiment

This paper examines Lü Fu’s (1671-1742) use of an innovative printing technique, clay block printing, in his self-publishing of the Popular Exposition of Twenty-One Histories (Nianyi shi tongsu yanyi 廿一史通俗衍義). Lü Fu renders historical events ranging from the myth of Pangu to the fall of the Ming dynasty and the establishment of the Qing dynasty in the novel. He also skillfully weaves a variety of knowledge, including reign titles and reign periods of past dynasties, family precepts, anecdotes of ghosts and deities, weather prediction, printing technology, and information on foreign lands, into the last four chapters. Unlike most of his contemporaries, Lü Fu not only compiled but also self-published the novel. Rather than using woodblocks to print his book, Lü Fu used clay blocks (niban 泥板). Notably, in the novel, he included a thorough, in-depth account of his printing technology, which he claimed to have invented. Building upon previous studies of technical and innovative aspects of Lü Fu’s printing technology, this paper explores the motivation at work in printing a novel on history using the clay block printing technique. As demonstrated in this paper, Lü Fu’s typographical experiment was driven by his desire to educate a wider public. He embraced the yanyi genre to compile his novel, deliberately positioned his novel as a popular exposition (tongsu yanyi 通俗衍義), a novel that can reach the masses (tongsu 通俗). This paper further analyzes Lü Fu’s instructions for clay block printing, aiming to expand our understanding of the eighteenth-century printing practices. By contextualizing the clay block printing technique and unpacking the materiality of clay blocks alongside their interaction with woodblock printing, this paper considers how diverse printing technologies intersected to shape the complex typographical landscape of eighteenth-century China.

Innovation of Movable Metal Type Printing in Early Chosŏn—Experiments with Kyemi, Kyŏngja and Kabin Fonts

Korean Movable metal typography reaches its most completed mode in the 15th century. After King T’aejong’s (r. 1401–18) casting of Kyemi Font (1403), typography completed a set of technical standards in terms of typecasting, typesetting, and printing in the mid-15th century under King Sejong (r. 1419–50), which in turn became the norm for the subsequent print culture of Chosŏn. The Office of Type Printing (Chujaso), which started printing books during T’aejong’s reign, became the center for knowledge production and opened the era of Movable metal typography. Its beginning was with the newly cast Kyemi Font followed by Kyŏngja Font in 1421. Previous studies on Kyemi and Kyŏngja Fonts have focused on the circumstantial background of their castings, analytical bibliography of their imprints, and their typefaces including large and small fonts. But our understanding of the actual printing techniques, typesetting methods, behind these fonts has yet to move forward. In particular, Kyemi and Kyŏngja Fonts prepare the conception of Kabin Font (1434), the most celebrated and idealized font of all Chosŏn metalloid types, and thus a closer look into these two fonts—how they were cast, who were involved, and what transpired in the process—would inform us of the details of early Chosŏn typography. By analyzing the changes in the printing process of the Kyemi Font, we can not only infer the relationship between the Kyemi Font and the subsequent Kyŏngja, but also examine the progressive developments leading to the Kabin Font. To this end, a technical comparative study of the existing Kyemi Font editions will be conducted, along with a thorough review of historical records that shed light on the circumstances of the time. Additionally, we aim to identify the characteristics of Joseon movable metal types currently held by the Library of Congress in the United States. Through specific case studies, we will explore the significance of the technical innovations and the efforts made to improve type printing. Based on the results of these comparisons, if research into the typefaces and the broader publishing system is actively pursued, it will greatly enrich the study of early Joseon printing culture.

“Just Like the Cast Type of Our Country”?: The Selective Adaptation of the Juzhenban in Chosŏn Korea

In the late eighteenth century, Chosŏn Korea encountered the products of one of Qing China’s grand experiments in typography: a systematically designed font of over 150,000 sorts of wooden movable type. Successfully adapting the font, known as Juzhen 聚珍, or assembled jewels, soon the Chosŏn court began to produce its own Juzhen editions. Yet the new font never fully supplanted the pre-existing typographic designs, and the Chosŏn court used both old and new fonts alongside each other. Moreover, Chosŏn’s adaptation of the Juzhen was not the blind replication of technical instructions: the artisans in charge of the printing office seemingly never utilized the double printing method (printing the borders, lines, and fishtail with one block, and the text with another) characteristic of Juzhen editions. Instead, the artisans grafted select features of the font—namely the typeface itself—onto existing peninsular typographic traditions, revealing an instance of how two different typographic technologies might meet. At the same time, the borrowing of a movable-type technology from Qing discomforted the Chosŏn court, which prided itself on its indigenous typographic traditions. The court thus put up a rhetorical defense of (metal) typography, printing postfaces to select works that emphasized the putative origins of metal movable type as a Chosŏn invention.

Typographic Reframing? Toward a Transnational History of East Asian Page Borders

My paper is an attempt to rethink the continuities and discontinuities between different traditions of xylography and typography through a non-textual component of print beyond a script-centered account of East Asian typography. Customarily referred to as huabian (floral border) in Chinese, page-border decorations flourished in late Ming woodblock-printed books (He Yuming 2013; Ma Meng-ching 2002, 2010), serving not only as branding and marketing tools, but also as versatile meaning-making devices. But my paper calls attention to another overlooked heyday of huabian at the turn of the twentieth century on the cusp of China’s conversion to mechanized letterpress printing under the influence of Japan and the West. Specifically, I focus on the use of huabian in late Qing reformist literary periodicals printed in Yokohama. I trace these type ornaments to the hanagata samples launched by the Tokyo Tsukiji Type Foundry. On the one hand, my analysis situates this huabian/hanagata repertoire in the heterogeneous pattern traditions deracinated (and in turn homogenized) by a rising Western typographic capitalism. On the other hand, I attend to the endurance of preindustrial bankuang (block frame) aesthetics in industrialized moveable-type design. Through the workshop, I would look forward to exploring the possibility of situating this local lineage in an interconnected East Asian context.