葉德輝=Ye Dehui; 地獄天堂=heaven and hell; 地獄真經=scriptures on hell; 出版策略=publishing strategies; 知識傳播=the dissemination of knowledge; 文化衝突與容受=cultural conflicts and cultural reception
Ye Dehui 葉德輝 (1864-1927), a self-proclaimed Confucian scholar, was not so much an intellectual as a prominent figure in the cultural heritage sphere. Ye possessed a keen business sense and engaged in a wide range of cataloguing and publishing activities. He insisted that ＂by nature I do not like Buddhism, and do not understand Buddhist scriptures;＂ however, from the 31st year of the guangxu 光緒 reign period, he started to block-print Buddhist scriptures on hell. For example, he published the ＂Scripture in Forty-two Chapters Annotated by the Song Emperor Zhenzong 真宗＂ (1905), the ＂Scripture on the Eighteen Hells＂ (1907), the ＂Scripture on Ghosts Asking Mulian 目蓮＂ (1907), ＂Miscellaneous Buddhist Scriptures＂ (1907), and the ＂Scripture on the Retribution of Hungry Ghosts＂ (1907). He also wrote ＂A Foreword to the Scripture on the Eighteen Hells＂ in which he emphasized that these were all ancient scriptures that predated the Six Dynasties. In addition, Ye described in detail the origin of hell and asserted that ＂this Buddhist discourse was stolen from Confucianism.＂ While these positions are difficult to explain, they in fact reveal interesting information about the historical era in which Ye lived. This article takes as its starting point the religious practices related to Ye Dehui's midlife illness and the difficulties encountered by his family. It discusses the dissemination of information on hell, the religious practices related to the printing of sutras and the veneration of spirits, and the connection between such activities and cultural production. In addition, at this time national affairs were in a tumultuous state, especially with western forces impacting the local authorities and the economic situation of the people. This led to the widespread appearance of worries about ＂hell on earth,＂ and it prompted a dialogue with the Christian concept of heaven and hell. This dialogue transformed ＂heaven and hell＂ from a popular religious issue to a key concept within intellectual circles. Ye Dehui followed this trend and, adopting a Confucian stance, he attempted to regain the ＂copyright＂ over the discourse on hell from Buddhism. However, the primary challenge he confronted was neither Buddhism, nor the revolutionary idea of late Qing 清 scholars who did ＂not admire heaven and were not afraid of hell;＂ instead, it was the historical evidence concerning the long cultural interaction between China and the rest of the world, which demonstrated the receptiveness of Chinese culture and heralded a new wave of Christian civilization moving east. In addition, as a renowned publisher of the Late Qing and Early Republic, Ye Dehui's background as a Confucian merchant led him to consider the most effective means of accumulating merit, texts and funds in the process of printing. In publishing scriptures on hell, he chose to highlight the current popular discourse on it. He used rare books as master copies, elaborate engraved covers, inscribed dedications by famous personalities, and a literary technique characterized by transforming the already known into something new. He moreover masterfully utilized literary, historical and artistic allusions related to the belief in hell, and added hues of the ancient and strange to the popular custom of chanting
