Which Asian country was the major producer of printed material in the 16th century and why ?
(1) The imperial state in China was the major producer of printed material for a long time. (2) It was the major producer of printed material due to the following factors : China had a large bureaucratic system which recruited its personnel through civil service examinations. Textbooks for this examination were printed in vast numbers under the sponsorship of the imperial state. From the sixteenth century, the number of examination candidates went up and that increased the volume of print.
