Woodblock Printing (Yangzhou)

Woodblock printing arose in the Tang dynasty, developed through the Song and Yuan, and flourished in the Ming and Qing. Yangzhou is a key seat of the craft: the Guangling workshop preserves nearly three hundred thousand old printing blocks from Ming and Qing times, with the technique passed down unbroken.

The full process spans copying out the text, carving the block, inking and printing, and binding. Craftsmen "write with the knife," cutting reversed characters into pear or jujube wood, then printing with ink onto xuan paper and finally thread-binding the sheets into books—all by hand.

Hailed as a "living fossil" of printing history, it holds great value for the study of ancient Chinese books and the spread of culture. It entered the first national ICH list in 2006 and, as Chinese woodblock printing, joined UNESCO's Representative List in 2009.

Carving and printing can be seen at Yangzhou's woodblock printing museum and the Guangling workshop, with related displays at venues such as the Yangzhou Grand Canal Museum.