In this dissertation I argue that print culture acted as a catalyst for change among Buddhists in modern China. Through examining major publication institutions, publishing projects, and their managers and contributors from the late nineteenth century to the 1920s, I show that the expansion of the scope and variety of printed works, as well as new the social structures surrounding publishing, substantially impacted the activity of Chinese Buddhists. In doing so I hope to contribute to ongoing discussions of the 'revival' of Chinese Buddhism in the modern period, and demonstrate that publishing, propelled by new print technologies and new forms of social organization, was a key field of interaction and communication for religious actors during this era, one that helped make possible the introduction and adoption of new forms of religious thought and practice.
Introduction: rint Culture and Religion in Modern China 1 Chapter One: Buddhist Xylographic Publishing in the Late Qing and Early Republic 41 Chapter Two: Mechanized Movable Type and the Kalaviṇka Canon, 1909 – 1913 95 Chapter Three: Publishing Revolution: Buddhist Periodicals in the the First Decade of the Republic, 1912 – 1919 130 Chapter Four: Navigating the Sea of Scriptures: Ding’s Buddhist Studies Collectanea, 1918 – 1923 178 Chapter Five: Opening the Dharma Bridge: Periodical, Scriptural, and Commercial Publishing, 1920 – 1929 245 Conclusion 290 Appendix: The Digital Bibliography of Chinese Buddhism 295 Works Cited 298
