NCERT Solutions, Question Answer and Mind Map for Class 10 Social Studies History Chapter 5, “Print Culture and the Modern World,” is a study material package designed to help students understand the impact of print culture on the modern world and the development of printing technology over time.

Page Contents

NCERT Solutions provide detailed explanations and answers to the questions presented in the chapter. The solutions cover all the topics in the chapter, including the history of printing technology, the role of print culture in shaping public opinion, and the impact of print on society and culture. They also provide tips on how to answer different types of questions, including short answer, long answer, and multiple-choice questions.

Class 10 Social Studies History Chapter 5 Print Culture and the Modern World

The question-answer section of the chapter covers a wide range of topics, from the origins of printing technology in China and Europe to the impact of the printing press on the Protestant Reformation and the French Revolution. It also includes questions on the role of print culture in the Indian freedom struggle, the growth of newspapers and magazines, and the impact of the internet on print culture in the modern world.

The mind map provides a visual representation of the key topics covered in the chapter, allowing students to understand the connections between different concepts and ideas. The mind map covers the history of printing technology, the impact of print culture on society and culture, and the role of print in shaping public opinion.

NCERT Solutions / Notes Class 10 Social Studies History Chapter 5 Print Culture and the Modern World with Mind Map PDF Download

Chapter 5: Print Culture and the Modern World

Print Culture and the Modern World

Printing Technology

Printing in China

From AD 594 onwards, books in China were printed by rubbing paper against the inked surface of woodblocks
The imperial state in China was, for a very long time, the major producer of printed material because

The state officials in imperial China were selected through civil service examinations hence textbooks for exam preparations were printed in large numbers.
Development of urban culture in China also led to a sharp increase
In the sale of printing books with people taking to the habit of reading during their leisure time.

In the late nineteenth century, the latest techniques of printing came to China from the western countries and Shanghai became a new centre of print culture.

Printing in Japan

In Japan, handprint technology was introduced by the Buddhist missionaries of China.
The Buddhist Diamond Sutra was the oldest Japanese book which was printed in AD 868.
Later, pictures were printed on paper money, playing cards and on textiles. During the mediaeval period, books were regularly published by writers and poets.
During the late eighteenth century, in present-day Tokyo, with the blooming urban culture, many paintings involving artists, courtesans, court culture and tea house gatherings came to be depicted. There were also books on instruments, famous places, tea ceremonies, flower arrangements and cooking.
An ukiyo was a form of art which developed in Japan. It dealt with the depiction of common and simple human expression. Kitagawa Utamaro was known for his contributions to ‘ukiyo’.

Printing in Europe

Chinese paper reached Europe through the Silk Route during the eleventh century. This led to the production of manuscripts.
In 1295, Marco Polo brought the technology of woodblock printing to Italy from China. This technology then spread to the other parts of Europe. Merchants and students began to use printing material on a large scale.
Gradually, the demand for books increased and booksellers in Europe began to export printed books in large numbers.
Johann Gutenberg developed the first printing press in the 1430s which gradually changed printing technology in Europe. The Bible was the first book which was printed by him.
However, handwritten manuscripts and woodblock technology were not enough to meet the growing demands of the people.
Printing presses were set up in several parts of the world by 1550, and the production of printed books increased tremendously.
The shift from hand printing to mechanical printing led to the Print Revolution.

Impact of the Print Revolution

The printing revolution minimised the time taken to produce books. As a result, the European markets were flooded with books.

A new reading public emerged as a result of the printing revolution in Europe. They read sacred texts, ballads and folktales.
Many books were also published with beautiful pictures, and illiterate people could now understand folktales with the help of pictures.
Books introduced a world of debate and discussion. Those people who disagreed with the Church and the Pope could now express their ideas in the book and forced the people to think on rational lines.
Many conservatives however did not welcome so many printed books into the markets. According to them, this could spread rebellious ideas among the people. This proved true when Martin Luther King criticised the corrupt practices of the Roman Catholic Church

Martin Luther King was a reformer
He was against the corrupt practices in the Church such as the sale of indulgences
In 1517, he wrote Ninety-Five Theses criticising several practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church
He pasted a printed copy on the door of the Church in Wittenberg in Germany. Luther’s writings were printed in large numbers and were widely read
This led to the beginning of the Reformation Movement

Print and Dissent

Inspired by printed materials and books, people began to question the existence of the dogmas in religion and began to interpret religion in their own ways.
In the sixteenth century, Menocchio, a miller in Italy, after reading books which were available in his locality formulated a view of God and his creation which was very different from the ideas preached by the Roman Catholic Church.
He was executed by the Church and several bans were imposed on publishers and booksellers. Thereafter, an index of prohibited books was maintained by the Church.

NCERT Solutions for Class 6th SSt

Chapter 1

The Reading Mania

Literacy rates went up in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and Churches played an important role in carrying literature to the common masses such as peasants and artisans.
As literacy rates went up and schools came to be established, reading mania spread to many countries of Europe.
Almanacs, calendars, pocketbooks, ballads and folktales began to be read. Pedlars were employed by booksellers to carry books to far-off villages to sell them.
Many periodicals began to be published in Europe which also provided information to the people on wars and trade and developments taking place in other parts of Europe.
People could now also read about the ideas of scientists and philosophers. Many scientific texts were translated into common and local languages. The writings of thinkers such as Voltaire, Thomas Paine and Rousseau inspired the people to adopt new ideas. This also led to the birth of the idea of revolution in the hearts of the Europeans.

Threat to Despotism

According to many historians, widely available printed materials and books created the conditions for the outbreak of the French Revolution. Three arguments were put forward in this case:

The printed books popularised the ideas of the thinkers which led to an era of Enlightenment. People now believed in rationalism and humanism. They criticised the illogical and corrupt practices of the Church.
Because books inspired new ideas, various debates and discussions took place in society and new ideas of social revolution came into existence.
By the 1780s, many new books and literature mocked the royalty and criticised their unethical actions. Questions were also raised about the social orders which favoured royal and aristocratic families.

Printed books popularised the ideas of thinkers leading to an era of Enlightenment
People now believed in rationalism and humanism
They criticised the illogical and corrupt practices of the Church and despotism and tyranny of the kings
Ideas of Voltaire and Rousseau began to be read widely

It was because of the power of the press, Louis Sebastian Mercier said, “Tremble, therefore, tyrants of the world! Tremble before the virtual writer’!

The Reading Class in the Nineteenth Century

In many European countries, primary education became compulsory. Thus, children became an important category of readers. Many school textbooks were published. Many folk stories were also published for children.
Women emerged as another category of readers. Many penny magazines were published for women containing guidelines on good behaviour and housekeeping.

Some important women novelists in this period were the Bronte sisters, Jane Austin and George Eliot. They all depicted women with a strong personality, determination and the power to think and decide.
Many lending libraries existed during this period. They were instrumental in educating the working and white-collared class. Many workers even wrote political tracts and autobiographies.

Later, many innovations were made in the methods of printing books. By the late eighteenth century, the press began to be made out of metal. Its place was then taken by the power-driven cylindrical press. Then the electricity-operated printing presses increased production. Printers and publishers always looked for new ways to market their products. Cheap paperback editions came into the market during the economic depression of 1939.

Printing Comes to India

During the ancient period in India, manuscripts were handwritten in Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic and vernacular languages. They were then copied on palm leaves or on handmade paper. Manuscripts were published well into the late nineteenth century.
These manuscripts were not widely used as they were fragile, expensive and had to be handled carefully.
The Portuguese missionaries of Goa introduced the printing press in India in the later half of the seventeenth century.
About 50 books in Konkani and Kanara languages were published by Jesuit priests. This was followed by the publication of Malayalam and Tamil texts.
In 1780, James Augustus Hickory began the publication of the English weekly magazine Bengal Gazette. Because he published a lot of gossip about the Company officials in India, the then Governor General, Warren Hastings persecuted Hickey and encouraged the sanctioning of all news items that could damage the image of the colonial government.
Bengal Gazette was the first weekly to be published by an Indian—Gangadhar Bhattacharya.

Religious Reforms and Public Debates

Publication of various newspapers and magazines resulted in many public debates and discussions which were mostly centred on religious and social issues.
Raja Ram Mohan Roy began the publication of ‘Sambad Kaumud’i in 1821. In this paper, he criticised the orthodox Hindu practices.
Two new Persian newspapers—‘Jam-i-Jahan Nama’ and ‘Shamsul Akhbar’—began to be published. At the same time, ‘The Bombay Samachar’ began to be published in Gujarati.
Many ulemas published translations of the Muslim Holy Scriptures. They also published thousands of ‘fatwas’ asking the Muslims to follow strict Islamic practices.
Many Hindi religious texts were also published in vernacular languages during this time. Ramcharitmanas written by Tulsidas was published in Calcutta in 1810.

Newspapers connected communities and people in different parts of India. It made people aware of their surroundings and informed them of events taking place in the other parts of the country, thus laying a foundation for the creation of pan-Indian identities.

New Forms of Publications

Many new forms of writing came into circulation in India. Short stories, lyrics and essays on political and cultural lives were being published.
The printing press also enabled the reproduction of visual images. Paintings of Raja Ravi Varma were circulated widely.
Cheap prints and calendars could even be bought by the poor section of society. Several religious and social messages were propagated with the help of these media.
By the 1870s, we find the publication of various cartoons and caricatures in newspapers. While some cartoons ridiculed Indians imitating the western style of dressing, the imperial cartoons criticised the nationalist.

NCERT Solutions for Class 6th SSt

Chapter 1

Women and Print

Many middle class women began to read during this time. While some read openly, some read secretly. Many journals written by women were published. They advocated the need of women to be educated.
Many conservative families however did not allow their women to read and write. Such writers read and wrote secretly. Rashsundari Debi secretly wrote ‘Amar Jiban’ in Bengali which became the first autobiography written by an Indian woman.
Kailashbashini Debi, a Bengali woman, wrote about the experiences of women in day-to-day lives.
In the 1880s, Tarabai Shinde and Pandita Ramabai wrote about the poor and miserable conditions of high caste Hindu widows in Indian society.
Many Hindi books in the twentieth century became very popular. They dealt with a variety of subjects such as education of women, religious and social issues, and political movements.
Several books were also published in Punjabi, Tamil and Bengali.

Poor and the Print

Books became very cheap in the twentieth century and began to be sold on the streets. Public libraries were also set up for the people to read books.
During this time, many books began to be written on the issue of caste discrimination. Jyotirao Phule, a noted reformer, criticised the caste system in his book Gulamgiri.
B. R. Ambedkar and E. V. Ramaswamy Naicker (Periyar) protested against the caste discrimination and wrote about it in newspapers and books.

The workers were overworked at this time. Kashibaba, a mill worker from Kanpur, published ‘Chhote Aur Bade Ka Sawal’ in 1938 to show links in caste and class exploitation in industries.
The poems of another Kanpur millworker, who wrote under the name of Sudarshan Chakr between 1935 and 1955, were brought together and published in a collection called ‘Sacchi Kavitayan’.
In the 1930s, the cotton workers of Bangalore set up libraries to educate themselves.
In Bengal, an entire area in central Calcutta – the Battala – was devoted to the printing of popular books. Wide varieties of books and publications were available here. Pedlars took the Battala publications to homes, enabling women to read them in their leisure time.

Print and Censorship

In the beginning, the colonial government was more interested in controlling printed material directed against Englishmen in India who were critical of Company’s misrule and disliked the actions of particular Company officers. The Company was worried that such criticisms might be used by its critics in England to attack its trade monopoly in India.
In 1820s, the Calcutta Supreme Court passed regulations to control press freedom. Later, Thomas Macaulay formed new rules to restore the earlier freedom of press.
After the revolt of 1857. The colonial attitude towards was not eager to put censorship on the press, but as the tide of the nationalist movement grew, they began to take measures for controlling the press.
After the revolt of 1857, the Englishmen were apprehensive of providing freedom to the nationalist printing press in India.
The Vernacular Press Act was passed in 1878 which armed the Government with censorship rights. Any newspaper publishing seditious news was first warned. Its machinery was confiscated if it still persisted with seditious reporting.
Despite of all these attempts, several nationalist newspapers began to rise in India. Attempts to curb these newspapers further sparked revolutionary activities. Bal Gangadhar Tilak was imprisoned for writing against the Government in his newspaper Kesari. This sparked protests all over India.

Thus, the development of printing had far-reaching effects on political, social and economic lives of the people.

Important Questions

Multiple Choice Questions-

Question 1. Who was Marcopolo?

(a) German scientist
(b) English philosopher
(c) Spanish explorer
(d) Italian traveller/explorer

Question 2. Who wrote about the injustices of the caste system in ‘Gulamgiri’?

(a) Raja Rammohan Roy
(b) Jyotiba Phule
(c) Balgangadhar Tilak
(d) Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay

Questions 3. Which of the following refers to print revolution?

(a) Invention of printing press
(b) Shift from hand printing to mechanical printing
(c) Revolt of people against printed matters
(d) Handwritten manuscripts for printed books

Question 4. Aim of Protestant Reformation was to:

(a) reform religion
(b) reform the Catholic church
(c) reform Jewish religion
(d) to protest against all reform

Question 5. Why was James Augustus Hickey persecuted by Governor General Warren Hastings?

(a) For poor editing of Bengal Gazette
(b) For publishing a lot of gossip about company’s Senior Official
(c) For publishing substandard material
(d) None of these

Question 6. By whom was ‘ Sambad Kaumudi’ published in 1821?

(a) Iswer Chandra Vidyasagar
(b) C.R. Das
(c) Raja Rammohun Roy
(d) Swami Vivekanand

Question 7. In ancient India which of the following material was used for writing manuscripts?

(a) Parchments
(b) Vellum
(c) Palm leaves
(d) Paper

Question 8. Which one of the following is the oldest Japanese book? [CBSE 2014]

(a) Sutta Pitaka
(b) Diamond Sutra
(c) Mahavamsa
(d) Dipavamsa

Question 9. The reformation movement was launched against the corrupt practices of which of the following group?

(a) Feudal Lords
(b) Protestant Church
(c) Catholic Church
(d) Absolute rulers

Question 10. Who among the following was not a women novelist?

(a) Jane Austen
(b) Bronte Sisters
(c) George Eliot
(d) Maxim Gorky

Question 11. Name the country which remained the major producer of printed material for a long time:

(a) The Imperial State of China
(b) Germany
(c) Korea
(d) Japan.

Question 12. Buddhist missionaries from China had introduced one of the following in Japan. Pick up the correct one from the list given below:

(a) Tripitakas (religious canons —three basic Buddhist principles)
(b) Hand printing technology
(c) Buddhism
(d) Teachings of Buddha

Question 13. Complete the sentence with one out of the following words:

The Chinese paper reached Europe through

(a) Silk Route
(b) Sea route
(c) Buddhist missionaries
(d) Merchants

Question 14. Where from did the Italians get the technology of wood block printing?

(a) China
(b) Japan
(c) India
(d) Korea

Question 15. Merchants and students in the University towns bought cheaper printed copies of books in Europe. What kind of books were bought by the aristocrats? Pick out the correct answer.

(a) Handwritten books on silk.
(b) Books made out of papyrus leaves.
(c) Handwritten books on very expensive vellum (a parchment made from the skin of animals).
(d) Books engraved on copper plates.

Very Short:

Give some examples of print around us.
What is calligraphy?
How books were printed in China since AD 594?
When was hand-printing technology introduced in Japan and by whom?
Who was the major producer of printed material in China?
By whom the textbooks for civil service examination were printed in China?
When and how were the western printing techniques and mechanical presses imported in China?
Which city of China became the hub of new print culture?
What was the ancient name of Tokyo?
Which is the oldest printed book of Japan?

Short Questions:

Who brought the knowledge of woodblock printing to Europe/Italy?
Which was the first book printed by Johann Gutenberg? How many copies were printed in how many years?
What is platen?
Who is compositor?
What is galley?
What is a ballad?
What were taverns?
What was written by Martin Luther in 1517?
What was Protestant Reformation?
What was Inquisition?

Long Questions:

Question 1. Describe the woodblock printing.

Question 2. Which Asian country was the major producer of printed material in the 16th century and why?

Question 3. “By the seventeenth century, as urban culture bloomed in China, the uses of print diversified.” Explain.

Question 4. How did the Buddhist missionaries from China introduce printing technology into Japan around AD 768-770? Explain.

Question 5. Write a short note on Ukiyo.

Assertion and Reason Questions:

1. In these questions, a statement of assertion followed by a statement of reason is given. Choose the correct answer out of the following choices.

NCERT Solutions for Class 6th SSt

Chapter 1

Assertion and reason both are correct statements and reason is correct explanation for assertion.
Assertion and reason both are correct statements but reason is not correct explanation for assertion.
Assertion is correct statement, but reason is wrong statement.
Both assertion and reason are wrong statements.

Assertion (A): In 1517, the religious reformer Martin Luther wrote Ninety Five Theses criticising many of the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church.

Reason (R): This led to a division within the Church and to the beginning of the Protestant Reformation.

2. In these questions, a statement of assertion followed by a statement of reason is given. Choose the correct answer out of the following choices.

Assertion and reason both are correct statements and reason is correct explanation for assertion.
Assertion and reason both are correct statements but reason is not correct explanation for assertion.
Assertion is correct statement but reason is wrong statement.
Both assertion and reason are wrong statements.

Assertion (A): The new reading culture was accompanied by a new technology.

Reason (R): From hand printing there was a gradual shift to mechanical printing.

ANSWER KEY

MCQ:

Answer: d
Answer: b
Answer: b
Answer: b
Answer: b
Answer: c
Answer: b
Answer: b
Answer: c
Answer: d
Answer: a
Answer: b
Answer: a
Answer: a
Answer: c

Very Short Answer:

Answer: The examples of print around us are books, journals, newspapers, paintings, official circulars, calenders, diaries, advertisements, cinema posters etc.
Answer: Calligraphy is art of beautiful and stylised writing.
Answer: Books were printed in China by rubbing paper against the inked surface of woodblocks.
Answer: Buddhist missionaries from China introduced hand-printing technology in Japan around AD
Answer: The imperial state in China was the major producer of printed material.
Answer: Textbooks for the civil services examination were printed under the sponsorship of the imperial state.
Answer: Western printing techniques and mechanical presses were imported in the late nineteenth century as western powers established their outposts in China.
Answer: Shanghai became the hub of the new print culture, catering to the western-style schools. From hand printing there was now a gradual shift to mechanical printing.
Answer: Edo.
Answer: Diamond Sutra.

Short Answer:

Answer: Marco Polo, a great explorer, returned to Italy after many years of exploration in China. He brought wood-block printing technology with him in 1295.
Answer: The first book he printed was the Bible. About 180 copies were printed and it took three years to produce them.
Answer: In letter press printing, platen is a board which is pressed onto the back of the paper to j get the impression from the type. At one time it used to be wooden board, later it was made of steel.
Answer: The person who composes the text for printing is called compositor.
Answer: Galley is a metal frame in which types are laid and the text composed.
Answer: Ballad is a historical account or folk tale in verse, usually sung or recited.
Answer: Taverns were places where people gathered to drink alcohol, to be served food and tomeet friends and exchange news.
Answer: In 1517, the religious reformer Martin Luther wrote Ninety Five Theses criticising many of the practices and rituals of the Roman Catholic Church.
Answer: It was a sixteenth-century movement to reform the Catholic Church dominated by Rome. Martin Luther was one of the main Protestant reformers. Several traditions of anti-Catholic Christianity developed out of the movement.
Answer: Martin Luther said, “Printing is the ultimate gift of God and the Greatest one.”

Long Answer:

Answer:

Woodblock printing was the earliest kind of print technology.
It was developed in China, Japan and Korea.
This was a system of hand-writing.
From AD 594 onwards, under this system, books in China were printed by rubbing paper against the inked surface of woodblocks.
As both sides of the thin, porous sheet could not be printed, the traditional Chinese ‘accordion book’ was folded and stitched at the side.
Superbly skilled craftsmen could duplicate with remarkable accuracy the beauty of calligraphy.
Answer:

(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.
Answer:

(1) In the seventeenth century, many cities had come up in China. As the urban culture spread, the uses of print also increased. It was used in different fields as mentioned below :

It was used by scholar officials.
Merchants used it to collect trade information.
Reading printed material became a leisure activity. So, people started reading fictional narratives, poetry, autobiographies, anthologies of literary masterpieces, and romantic plays.
Women began publishing their poetry and plays.
Wives of scholar-officials published their works and courtesans wrote about their lives.

(2) The new reading culture had the following effects :

It brought western printing techniques and mechanical presses into China.
Shanghai became the hub of the new print culture.

Thus, there was natural change from hand-printing to mechanical printing.

Answer:

The development of print in Japan took place as mentioned below :

Buddhist missionaries from China introduced hand-printing technology in Japan around AD 768-770.
The oldest Japanese book printed in AD 868 was the Buddhist Diamond Sutra. It contained six sheets of text and woodcut illustrations.
Pictures were printed on textiles, playing cards and paper money,
In medieval Japan, the poets and prose writers regularly published their works.
Printing of visual material led to interesting publishing practices. For example, in the late eighteenth century, at Edo (modern Tokyo) illustrated collections of paintings depicted an elegant urban culture, involving artists, courtesans, and teahouse gatherings.
Libraries and bookstores were full with hand-printed material of various types such as books on women, cooking, famous places, musical instruments, calculations, tea ceremony and flower arrangements.
Answer:

Kitagawa Utamaro, born in Edo in 1753, widely known for his contributions to an art form called Ukiyo (pictures of the floating world) or depiction of ordinary human experiences, especially urban ones.
These prints travelled to contemporary US and Europe and influenced artists like Manet, Monet and Van Gogh.
Publishers like Tsutaya Juzaburo identified subjects and commissioned artists who drew the theme in outline.
Then a skilled woodblock carver pasted the drawing on a woodblock and carved a printing block to reproduce the painter’s lines.
In the process, the original drawing would be destroyed and only prints would survive.

Assertion and Reason Answers:

1. a) Assertion and reason both are correct statements and reason is correct explanation for assertion.

Explanation: A printed copy of the Theses was posted on a church door in Wittenberg. It challenged the Church to debate his ideas. Luther’s writings were immediately reproduced in large numbers and read widely. The reason thus correctly justifies the assertion.

2. a) Assertion and reason both are correct statements and reason is correct explanation for assertion.

Explanation: The reason thus correctly justifies the assertion.