Quick Answer: What Are Chinese Concertina Books?
Chinese concertina binding (经折装, jīngzhézhuāng) folds a long strip of paper back and forth into a rectangular stack. The folds act as hinges between panels. A reader can open a few at a time, or extend the strip to see a longer passage. Historical examples often have covers attached at the ends. [1][2]
- Paper: The panels are connected in one long strip.
- Folds: Alternating creases make the strip close into a stack.
- Use: Sutras often took this form, and palace memorials could use it too. [1][2]
When you turn a panel, check whether it stays connected to the panels on either side. That continuity is the defining feature. [1][2]
Look at a concertina book from the side and you can see the folds alternate between the two edges of the stack. Open a few and the rectangular book becomes a zigzag. On a table, the stack takes up about the space of one panel. Open the book along a few folds and several adjacent passages can be visible at once.
How One Strip Becomes a Book
A long strip can come from sheets joined end to end. The paper runs continuously through the book even when it began as separate sheets. A join connects two sheets. A fold bends the strip to form the boundary between adjacent reading panels. They have different jobs, even when they sit close together. [1][2]
The Palace Museum describes covers pasted to the first and last ends of the folded strip. When the book is closed, those covers protect the outside faces of the stack. Inside, the creases allow the book to open at either edge in turn, with no single fixed spine running down one side. [1][2]
How the Folds Change the Way You Read
To reach a passage in a scroll, the reader unrolls the strip to that point. The concertina puts hinges along the strip, so the reader can turn a group of panels or open just the part being read. The Palace Museum connects the format with making Buddhist texts easier to handle during recitation. [1][2]
The folds help place a volume within traditional Chinese bookbinding. In butterfly binding, separate sheets are folded and their creases are gathered at one spine. In a concertina, each crease joins one panel to the next and the two edges of the stack take turns carrying the folds. [1][2][8]
From Dunhuang to the Qing Court
A British Library manuscript from Dunhuang, Or.8210/S.5603, shows how historical formats could overlap. In this ninth- or tenth-century copy of the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra, the Tibetan scripture is written in red and the Chinese commentary in black. The catalog describes the manuscript as combining concertina folds with features of the long, narrow loose-leaf format known as pothi, including a string hole that the concertina folds make unnecessary. [3][9]
At Hunan Library, a fragment of the Chongning Canon shows that the folded structure could also be used for printed books. The provincial account describes it as a Yuan impression made from Song blocks and records its folded structure. In Chinese woodblock printing, blocks could outlast the period in which they were cut. The date of the blocks and the date of this impression therefore describe different events. [4]
The Palace Museum’s 1771 Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra was produced by court copyists in concertina form. The museum records gold writing and patterned textile covers. The folds divide that elaborate copy into reading panels, just as they do in a plainer volume. [5]
Why the Folds Matter in Conservation
Repeatedly opening a book puts strain on its folds. The Library of Congress advises supporting the panels level with each other during consultation, so the crease does not carry the weight of a hanging stack. For older paper, each hinge is both part of the reading mechanism and a vulnerable point. [2]
China added the National Library’s traditional bookbinding skills to its national intangible cultural heritage list in 2021. The library includes concertina binding among the methods it preserves. The library’s work on rare-book reproductions offers a setting in which the choice of paper, shape of the folds and placement of the covers can still be studied together. [6]
FAQs About Chinese Concertina Books
Were Chinese concertina books only used for Buddhist texts?
The association with Buddhist scriptures is strong. The Palace Museum also records use of the folding format for memorials submitted to the court. [1][5]
Is the 868 Diamond Sutra a concertina book?
The famous dated 868 copy from Dunhuang is a scroll. The International Dunhuang Programme describes seven woodblock-printed sheets joined end to end to make that scroll. [7]
How does concertina binding differ from butterfly binding?
A concertina is continuous from panel to panel and folds alternately toward each edge. Butterfly binding uses separate folded sheets whose folds are pasted together at one spine. [1][2][8]
Sources
[1] The Palace Museum. Concertina Binding
[2] Library of Congress, Asian Reading Room. Handling Asian Books
[3] International Dunhuang Programme. Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra in Tibetan with Commentary in Chinese
[4] Hunan Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism. Rare Books Examined at Hunan Library
[5] The Palace Museum. Mahāratnakūṭa Sūtra, 1771 Court Manuscript
[6] National Library of China, via Ministry of Culture and Tourism. Traditional Bookbinding on China’s National Heritage List
[7] International Dunhuang Programme. The Diamond Sutra Frontispiece
[8] The Palace Museum. Butterfly Binding
[9] Sam van Schaik, International Dunhuang Programme. A Chinese-Tibetan Bilingual Buddhist Manuscript