What are the main tasks of the Lithography Section of the Printing and Printing Bureau of the Du Branch?

The official bills of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Qing and Song Dynasty banknotes issued by the Qing Dynasty adopted engraving printing technology. At that time, the various private banknotes, banknotes, money stickers, exchange tickets, and stamps circulating in society were They also use woodblock printing technology.

During the Guangxu period, the development of lithographic technology brought a new leap forward in banknote printing. Folk banknotes shifted from single or two-color to multi-color, and from the original relatively monotonous traditional vertical format to both horizontal and vertical formats. The pattern on the coupons has changed from a relatively simple composition of carved lines to a richer variety of artwork, and gradually adopted shading patterns.

The process of printing banknotes using lithography technology is basically the same as printing books. Just one more layout program before the rock falls. Generally speaking, the area of ??banknotes is much smaller than that of book pages, pictures, and newspapers, and each printing plate can print multiple sheets. Therefore, the printing manuscripts for printing banknotes must be imposition before falling. Imposition is to combine multiple banknote samples into a large format, then transfer the large format to deinked paper, and then perform stone fall.

Due to the chaos of currency circulation in the late Qing Dynasty, banknote printing was out of control. In the Qing Dynasty, some reformist officials in the imperial court discussed reforms one after another, which attracted the attention of the imperial court.

In 1908, my country's first modern banknote printing institution directly controlled by the imperial court was formally established in Beijing, named "Du Branch Printing Bureau". The office was located in Baizhifang, inside You'anmen, Beijing. The former site of the "Gunpowder Bureau of the Ministry of Works".

The bureau actively introduced the internationally advanced banknote printing technology at that time. Its scale and style were modeled after the "National Printing and Printing Bureau" in the United States. It hired American technicians to join the bureau and trained the first batch of modern banknote printing in my country. Technicians and printing mechanics.

The advanced engraving and gravure banknote printing technology at that time was undoubtedly the first choice for introduction. However, cultivating qualified gravure engraving technicians required long-term training. It was not possible to complete a set of steel gravure banknote plates in a short period of time. Requires a longer cycle.

As a result, other internationally advanced printing technologies and equipment were introduced, such as American universal engraving machines, gravure printing machines, lithographic printing machines, printing machines, disc printing machines, cameras and industrial boilers. , generator, etc.

The "Printing Bureau of the Du Branch" has a lithographic group, which is an important part of the lithographic banknotes. It is under the same division as the embossed printing group, the printing group, the type group, the electrotype group, and the pattern group.

The main job of the lithographic printing team is to copy the ink drafts of banknotes onto the printing stone, and the equipment is a stone falling machine. During operation, the sealing stone is placed in the appropriate position of the machine frame, and the rollers are manually operated by workers.

All stamp stones that have completed the rockfall process will be sent to the printing class for printing. Seal stones require constant turnover and are in large quantities. The roller is used in conjunction with the frame and will wear out after a certain period of use, so spare parts are required.

During the preparation process, the Printing Bureau of Du Branch was building a factory and recruiting personnel for technical training. Particularly worth mentioning are Bi Chennian, Li Fu, Yan Xilin, Wu Jintang and others who were recruited from the Tianjin Official News Bureau and had learned the technique of engraving copper intaglio from the Japanese.

After a period of study, he mastered all the steel gravure engraving technology and became the first generation of steel gravure engraving technicians in my country. He attracted the attention of the printing industry at that time and laid the foundation for the further development of my country's steel gravure engraving technology. A solid foundation.

The government at that time wanted to prevent private forgery, but had no technical measures, so it had no choice but to stamp the government seal on the ticket to ensure credibility and enhance reliability. This is still an early and simple anti-counterfeiting measure in the history of banknote printing in my country.

At the same time, the imperial court also formulated laws to maintain the credibility of banknotes, and used legal provisions to punish and reward counterfeiters and those who reported to officials to prevent and sanction counterfeiters to ensure the circulation of banknotes. and credibility.

In addition to the official banknotes of the Ministry of Household Affairs and the Qing Dynasty treasure banknotes issued by the imperial court, banknotes of the Qing Dynasty were also printed and issued by official and private bank accounts and private banknotes in the late Qing Dynasty. Among them, private money shops are also called bankers, money shops, money stores, bank accounts, etc. They are a local financial industry.

Its main business is to exchange money and print and issue money bills, which plays a role in cooperating with money making and printing, and as a means of payment. However, the printing quality of the banknotes issued by private banks was simpler and rougher, and the face value figures were mostly written by hand. They lacked necessary anti-counterfeiting measures, which made the currency system at that time even more confusing.

Official ticket from the Ministry of Household Affairs