木活字修谱师王超辉：每一个字，都蕴含着一个氏族的历史 | Wooden Movable-Type Printing

王超辉是木活字印刷技术的国家级传承人，他凭着这门独活已做了40多年的“谱师”。

Wang Chaohui is the national inheritor of wooden movable-type printing. With this unique craft, he has been printing family trees over the past 40 years.  

Wang is inscribing the name on the wooden blocks. /CGTN Photo

 Wang is arranging the blocks for wooden movable-type printing. /CGTN Photo

在浙江瑞安东源村，“修谱”是一种当地独有的“业务”。

In Dongyuan Village of Rui'an City, southeast China's Zhejiang Province, family tree printing is a special business exclusive to the region.

尽管在不少人看来，家谱已属于一种“文物”，但在浙江很多地方，谱牒文化依旧盛行。尤其是在瑞安这样的移民城市，家谱是回溯历史、缅怀祖先的重要载体，这是支撑木活字印刷沿袭至今的原因之一。

For many people, the family tree has long become history. However, it still remains popular in most of Zhejiang Province. Especially in a city of immigrants like Rui'an, it acts as an embodiment of family history and the tribute to the ancestors. This is one of the reasons the wooden movable-type printing is passed on and on for generations.

CGTN Photo

“我们温州人觉得家谱很重要，都要在祠堂拜祭祖公的。它可以记录祖宗什么时候搬到这个地方，以前做过什么官，有什么光荣的事迹，提醒后辈不要忘了祖辈的事迹。”

"In my hometown, people are spiritually attached to their family trees. They worship their ancestors in the ancestral halls. The family tree records everything about your ancestors, like when they moved here, which official rank they held and what great deeds they did. It reminds the descendants of their family roots."

按照当地的传统风俗，家谱都是用木活字印刷的方法制作。王氏的印刷生意可追溯至宋朝时期，几百年来经久不衰。而如今，木活字印刷的传人只有他了。

In local traditions, family trees should always be printed with wooden movable-type. The printing business of the Wang family dates back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279). It had thrived for centuries, yet Wang Chaohui is the only inheritor of this craft.

“19岁时开始学习这门手艺，我很快就习惯了看反字，排版速度也越来越快，因为有兴趣特别开心，感觉就像学生在课堂上学习知识一样。”

"I learned it at the age of 19. It didn't take long for me to read mirrored characters and do typesetting with ease. It was as enlightening as school lessons, because I was interested and totally involved in it."

木活字印刷需要经历拣字、排版、润版、拓印与装订这几个步骤。谱师需要找出需要的字，按照家谱的信息进行排版，然后给印版上墨，覆上宣纸，完成拓印。

Wooden movable-type printing usually takes 5 steps: character picking, typesetting, inking, rubbing and binding. The typographer picks out the wooden characters first, arranges them according to the family's information, inks the plates, and lays xuan paper upon them for rubbing.

CGTN Photo

The blocks printed with family names on it. /CGTN Photo

“君王立殿堂，朝辅尽纯良。庶民如律礼，平大净封疆......两万多个字模都是按照部首偏旁的顺序排列的。现在早就很习惯了，知道每个字放在哪里。刚开始学习做谱时，我还整宿躺在床上背”。

From more than 20,000 wooden blocks, Wang can always lock onto those he wants in just a few seconds, before filling them into the right plates. The secret behind it is the 160-word character-picking formula. 

事实上这些字模都是消耗品，因为常年的使用会使它们逐渐失去棱角，导致印出来的字迹模糊不清。尽管如此，字模的用料依然十分考究，选用的都是上好的棠梨木，印刷时也选用檀木熟宣与墨汁，现代工业印刷用的则是混合纸浆与油墨。“这都是老祖宗原汁原味的工艺。木活字印刷出来的家谱，可以保存三到四百年，比油墨印刷时间更长。”

"'(formula lyrics) The emperor stands in the hall, with loyal officials summoned; when the civilians respect rituals and laws, vast lands shall be governed.' The 20,000 blocks are laid out according to the characters' component parts. I have the exact position of each character in mind. In the early days, I used to stay awake all night trying to memorize the formula." The wooden characters actually are articles of consumption. The edges would be smoothed out after years, making the printed content illegible. Regardless of the cost, the blocks are always made of precious and high-quality Birchleaf pear wood. Modern industry uses mixed paper pulp and printing ink, while for the movable-type printing, they use prepared Chinese ink and ripe xuan paper that is made of sandal wood. "These are all part of the original craftsmanship of our ancestors. Family trees thus printed would last 300 to 400 years, much longer than those produced in an industrialized way."

CGTN Photo

CGTN Photo

正是因为字模的损耗，或者有时候会遇到新字，谱师必须具备刻字的能力。在木活字印刷的所有技术中，这是最难的，因为刻的是反字，而且反字还得有老宋体的韵味。

In case a block is worn out, or a new character is needed, the typographer must be capable of carving on the tiny woodblock. Among all the skills required, this shall be the most difficult one because you have to make a mirrored image of the actual character, and in the ancient Song typeface.

在刻字时，王超辉先用毛笔将字反写在字模上。为了表现出老宋体雅致的笔锋，他不能像我们平日写字时那样一气呵成，而是需要不断地添补，写好后再沿着笔画下刀，让这些字凸显在字模上。这一道工序学习成本很大，王超辉的儿子用了10年仍未完全掌握。

To carve the character, Wang would first write its mirrored version upon the woodblock with a brush pen. For a touch of the Song typeface, he needs to fill in bit by bit, rather than writing continuously as people usually do in calligraphy. Then he starts carving along each stroke to make the character protrude. The craft alone would take a lot to be acquired. Wang's son has yet to get the essence after 10 years working of on it. 

CGTN Photo

The printed genealogy. /CGTN Photo

The book of the printed genealogy of Wang's family. /CGTN Photo

“我27岁左右时就可以自己刻字了。那时候交通不方便，我挑着担子进山揽活。最怕的就是寻访时，人家不理你，扑空了白跑一趟。好在那时这个行业名气比较好，我们的工资比普通木匠还要高一点。”

"I already carved on my own at 27. The traffic then was not convenient. I had to walk into the mountains with all my gear upon the shoulders. After miles of walking, the worst scenario was being given the cold shoulder. Fortunately, this profession had got a good reputation, and we earned more than the carpenters did."

现在，如果遇到字盘里没有的字，他花10分钟就能刻出一个新字，这是需要40多年才能练就的手艺。“很多人觉得木活字印刷很慢，用电脑会快得多，铅字印刷也是。他们不理解这种文化。”

Now it takes him only 10 minutes to carve a new character, thanks to 40 years of professional experience. "Many people think the wooden movable-type printing is obsolete, as it's much less efficient than computer and lead-type printing. They are not aware of the culture within."

目前，木活字印刷已被联合国教科文组织列入“急需保护的非物质文化遗产名录”。40多年来，王超辉不仅记录下了一个个家族的血脉故事，更传承了中国大地上已濒危的古老技艺。

The UNESCO has included China's wooden movable-type printing into the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding. During the past 40 years, Wang Chaohui has not only recorded family histories for locals, but also inherited and passed on an endangered craftsmanship for his motherland.

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