Jinling Sutra Woodblock Carving and Printing

In 1866 Yang Renshan and others founded the Jinling Sutra Press, carrying on the ancient woodblock carving and printing of Buddhist scriptures and images, and becoming a centre of the modern revival of Buddhist culture.

The craft has three stages — block carving (transferring and cutting the text), printing (inking, pressing and lifting the sheet) and binding — performed entirely by hand in the old woodblock water-ink manner.

Listed nationally in 2006 and, as part of Chinese woodblock printing, inscribed by UNESCO in 2009, the press is a rare place where woodblock Buddhist sutras are still carved, printed and circulated.