# European Medieval History

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I was recently reading The Medieval History of Europe, and from this chart you can actually understand why the East and West ended up with completely different political formations.

## Northern Song Dynasty China - Censorship


In the case of printing, there was a "publishing revolution" in China during the Northern Song Dynasty, when private capital in the southeast began to undertake a large number of printing jobs because of the decline in engraving and printing technology and the cost of paper.

Not only did some "local tabloids" emerge, but many official printing jobs were also entrusted to private factories, and the media industry was in full swing.

At that time, there were frequent defeats and wars in the Northern Song Dynasty, and many government scandals were frequently reported in the press, which could be easily spread, and everyone could publish books, so many new ideas could be easily spread and spread, which was not easy to control.

Finally, Ouyang Xiu and Su Zhe and others suggested that private publications should be "censored" by official institutions before publication, and this was the starting point of censorship.

Because of the unified central government with a very efficient bureaucratic executive system, a round of censorship of private books was soon launched in the name of "national security", claiming that it was to prevent state secrets of the Northern Song from being obtained by foreigners.

Naturally, the trend of "dissemination of ideas" and "media prosperity" quickly withered, and the corresponding "censorship" was inherited by us in disguise until today.

## A disunified europe hatches liberty


As we can see from the map, Europe has been in a very divided state for a long time, with no single entity strong enough to rule all other countries.

This environment did not have a unified market, but it created a space for new ideas to spread.

When Gutenberg bent the rules and invented the printing press, everyone was free to publish their own books (same as in the Northern Song Dynasty four hundred years ago), the difference was that European rulers were not powerful enough to block these ideas and books.

A book being banned in one region often meant better sales in other regions, and publishers were happy to increase the print run to help spread these heretical ideas.

Similarly, when a person is wanted in one area, he can quickly move to another area to continue spreading his ideas.

The free dissemination of these "heretical ideas" eventually led to the Renaissance and the Enlightenment, and even to the foundations of contemporary science, which directly led to our present day.