Print Culture And The Modern World: 10 SST

Question: What was Vernacular Press Act?

Answer: It was an act which was passed by the colonial government to dam the freedom of press The Act prodded the government with extensive rights top censor reports and editorials in the Vernacular press.

Question: Name an Act which was passed by the British government to keep a regular track of the vernacular newspapers.

Answer: The Vernacular Press act – 1878.

Question: Name the paper with which Bal Gangadhar Tilak was associated.

Answer: Kesari

Question: “Liberty of speech… liberty of the press… freedom of association. The government of India is now seeking to crush the three powerful vehicles of expressing and cultivating public opinion, the fight for swaraj, for Khilafat… means a fight for this threatened freedom before all else…”
Who said these words ?

Answer: Mahatma Gandhi

Question: How were earlier books printed (before 15th century)? Explain.

Answer: 

1. The earlier kind of print technology was a system of hand printing.
2. From AD 594 on wards, books in China were printed by rubbing paper also invented there against the inked surface of woodblocks. As both sides of the thin, porous sheet could not be printed, the traditional Chinese ‘accordion book’ was folded and stitched at the side.
3. Superbly skilled craftsmen could duplicate, with remarkable accuracy, the beauty of calligraphy.

Question: How did China remain a major producer of printed materials for a long time?
Or
“The imperial state in China, was the major producer of printed material”. Support this statement with examples.

Answer:

1. Textbooks for the civil service examination were printed in vast numbers under the sponsorship of the imperial state
2. Merchants used print in their everyday life as they collected trade information
3. The new readership preferred fictional narratives, poetry, romantic plays
4. Rich women began to read and many women began publishing their poetry and plays

Question: “By the 17th century, as urban culture Answer: bloomed in China, the uses of print diversified”. Explain by giving examples.
Or
How did a new reading culture bloom in China? Explain.

Answer:

1. With the blooming of urban culture, the uses of print diversified. Print was no longer used just by scholar-officials.
2. Merchants also started using print in their everyday life, to collect trade information Reading increasingly became a leisure activity.
3. The readers preferred fictional narratives, poetry, autobiographies, anthologies of literary masterpieces and romantic plays.
4. 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.

Question: Describe the progress of print in Japan.

Answer:

1. Buddhist missionaries from China introduced hand-printing technology into Japan around AD 768-770. The oldest Japanese book, printed in AD 868, is the Buddhist Diamond Sutra. Pictures were printed on textiles, playing cards and paper money.
2. In medieval Japan, poets and prose writers were regularly published, and books were cheap and abundant.
3. Printing of visual material led to interesting publishing practices. In the late eighteenth century, in the flourishing urban circles at Edo (later to be known as Tokyo), illustrated collections of paintings depicted an elegant urban culture, involving artists, courtesans, and tea house gatherings.

Question: How had the earliest printing technology developed in the world?

Answer:

1. The earnest kind of print technology was developed in China, Japan and Korea.
2. Up to 6th century, the print was used only by scholar officials.
3. Then the Buddhist missionaries introduced hand printing technology.
4. Marco Polo brought woodblock printing from China to Italy.
5. The invention of the printing press proved great miracle in spreading knowledge.

Question: Who was Marco Polo? What was his contribution to print culture?

Answer: Marco Polo was a great Italian explorer.

Contribution:

1. In 1295. Marco polo returned to Italy after many years of exploration in China.
2. He brought the knowledge of woodblock printing with him.
3. Now in Italy, books started to be produced with woodblocks and soon the technology spread to other parts of Europe.