An atmosphere of intellectual competition motivated aspiring Confucian scholars. Wealthy families eagerly gathered books for their personal libraries, including the Confucian classics as well as philosophical works, mathematical treatises, pharmaceutical documents, Buddhist sutras, and other genteel literature.Ebrey et al., East Asia, 159–160. The development of woodblock printing and then movable type printing by the 11th century greatly increased the output of books and contributed to the spread of education and the growing number of exam candidates.Fairbank, 94. Books also became more accessible to those of lesser means.Ebrey, Cambridge Illustrated History of China, 147.
