It’s hardly an exaggeration (夸张): The Black Death in the 14th century gave rise to the Renaissance. I came across this curious information in A History of Knowledge, a well-written book by Charles Van Doren.

Of course, the key tool in this revolution was the printing press, which Johannes Gutenberg had perfected by 1450, when he started printing his first books.

But for printing to become a mass industry there would have to be enough people and a demand for books, and of course, the people would also need to have the money to buy those books. On the other hand, printers would have to make sure that the supply of books could keep up with the demand.

The Black Death gave rise to those conditions that would speed up the growth of publishing. Since around 1355, the plague (瘟疫) had been forcing people to flee to Western Europe from Byzantium, one of the cities where the plague started. It so happened that Byzantium was an important seat of power, and also of culture. So among the refugees (难民) were a lot of people educated through Greek and Roman works. They also brought along manuscripts (手稿) of those works.

By 1450, these refugees had aroused a desire for learning among the people in their adopted lands. So that took care of the demand.

Then, with so many people dead, so many worldly possessions were left without owners. These included land, houses, jewelry, and clothes. Of course, those who survived the plague got hold of these things, because there was so much to go around for everyone.

As for sources of works to print, plenty of manuscripts had been brought by refugees. As for paper, spare clothes could be used to make rag paper, a cheaper and better alternative (选择) than vellum or parchment, both of which would have to be made from animal skins. So thousands of works that only the rich could have bought in the form of expensive manuscripts became available to a lot more people in the form of cheaper books.

Tang Dynasty poets sang for about three centuries in different tones. There were many famous poets living in the Tang period such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Bai Juyi and Li Shangyin. Quan Tangshi edited in the Qing Dynasty is a collection of about 48, 900 poems that were written by over 2, 200 poets. But it doesn't cover all the poems of the Tang Dynasty.

During the Tang Dynasty, poems were recited when lovers walked under the moonlight. Poems were also recited when soldiers fought on the battlefield. People recited them in the open air or at temple fairs.

In the Tang Dynasty scholars（学者）had to be poets. Their readers were not only people of high social position but also common people. Poets recited poems；women singers sang poems and other ranks of people, including old women and children, read Tang poems. This atmosphere affected foreigners who visited the country at that time. As a result, Tang poetry was introduced to some adjacent countries, like Japan and Vietnam.

Tang poetry is a most brilliant page in the history of ancient Chinese literature. It's a miracle（奇迹）in the cultural history of mankind. The Tang Dynasty was a powerful empire with a vast territory. It inherited（继承）Chinese civilization that went back to ancient times, and was combined with the best of other cultures and adopted the benefits of other nations in the world. Tang poetry wasn’t the only spiritual wealth created by people of the Tang Dynasty. Philosophy, handwriting, painting, music and dance all gained new peaks of development. Tang poetry, however, was the jewel in the crown and the greatest achievement in the Tang Dynasty.

During the annual political sessions, environmental protection was definitely among the biggest concerns. Actually, it was also an issue that ancient Chinese paid great attention to. In fact, the world’s earliest environmental protection concept, ministry and laws were all born in China. So how did the ancient Chinese protect the environment?

In early ancient China, environmental protection was promoted to the political level. Xunzi, a famous thinker in Warring States Period, brought up the concept of “managing state affairs through environmental protection”. He stated in his book that vegetation should not be damaged at will. Guan Zhong, an official 400 years ahead of Xunzi, was also an environmental protection expert. During his term of office, he claimed that “a King who cannot protect his vegetation is not qualified to be a king”.

According to a record in Qing dynasty, the environmental protection ministry in early ancient China was called “Yu”, standing both for the institution and the official title. Although most of its functions were similar to such ministries today, the administration range of it was much larger, including the mountains, forests, rivers, lakes and so on.

The nine ministries established by Shun, an ancient Chinese emperor, already included “Yu”, the environmental protection ministry. The first “Yu” official was a man called Boyi, who was indeed an environmental protection expert. He was a capable assistant to Dayu, an ancient Chinese water-control expert. He invented wells, protecting people’s drinking water from pollution. He knew a lot about animals and also called for animal protection.

Environmental protection laws dated back to the ruling period of Dayu, which was more than 4,000 years ago. During his rule, he issued a ban, forbidding people to cut down wood in March or catch fish in June, the time when they were supposed to boom.

In Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period almost 3,000 years ago, “environmental protection laws” appeared in its true sense in Qin, which was recorded in Law of Fields and regarded as China’s earliest “environmental protection laws”.