The printing art of ancient China went through four stages: seal, ink carved stone tablet, woodblock, and movable type. The woodblock printing is made of finely textured and solid jujube wood, pear wood, and other materials, cut into rectangular wooden boards, and polished to make woodblocks. Write the text to be engraved on paper, then paste it back onto a wooden block for carving, and carve it into raised lettering, which can be used to print books.
Before the invention of movable type printing by scientist Bi Sheng of the Northern Song Dynasty, people used block printing to print books. Compared to movable type printing, this printing method had the disadvantage that if a single character was engraved incorrectly, the entire page would be discarded.
Nevertheless, compared to the copying of books before the Han Dynasty, woodblock printing still saved a lot of manpower and material resources, playing an immeasurable role in promoting the prosperity and development of culture.
During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Lun summarized the experience of his predecessors and invented high-quality, cost-effective, and practical paper. Afterwards, he gradually replaced writing materials such as oracle bones, gold and stone, bamboo slips, and silk. At that time, publishing books still relied on manual copying, which was time-consuming and labor-intensive. Later, there emerged woodblock printing techniques that imitated the techniques of seals and ink rubbings, making publishing books easier.
When did woodblock printing originate? The academic community has been divided and unable to reach a consensus. Some people believe that woodblock printing emerged during the Han Dynasty. The Book of Later Han records that “Zhu He, a native of the same county, was naturally cunning and evil, abandoned by Jian (Zhang Jian) and harbored resentment. He then wrote a letter to accuse Jian and the same county of being members of the same party, and published a chapter to pursue his arrest
In the eighth year of the Yanxi reign of Emperor Huan of Han (165 AD), Zhang Jian offended the eunuch Hou Lan, who encouraged Zhu and falsely accused Zhang Jian. Zhang Jian had to escape the difficulties and the court posted notices to arrest him.
Yuan Dynasty scholar Wang Youxue explained, “The printed text is now listed on the board.” The so-called “printed seal” here should be the most primitive printing technique, similar to an expanded version of the seal. Some scholars also express opposition, believing that the technology of “journal” and printing are not the same. Ming Dynasty scholar Lu Shen believed that the true woodblock printing technique was invented during the Sui Dynasty.
According to the “Records of the Three Treasures of All Dynasties”, in the thirteenth year of the Kaihuang reign (593 AD), Emperor Wen of Sui issued an edict to the people of the country to worship Buddhism. There was a sentence in the edict, “Abandon the image and leave the scriptures, and receive the order to carve and write.” Based on this, Lu Shen believed that this was the “beginning of printing books” in woodblock printing.
Some scholars also believe that woodblock printing originated in the Tang Dynasty. In the ninth year of Taihe (835 AD), Feng Su, the governor of Dongchuan, mentioned in a memorial to the emperor that the people of Jiannan and Liangchuan in Sichuan, as well as Huainan in Anhui, privately printed calendars for sale.
In the late years of the Guangxu reign, a beautifully bound “Diamond Sutra” was discovered at the Thousand Buddhas Cave in Dunhuang, Gansu. The end of the book records the publication time – “April 15th, the ninth year of the Xiantong reign.” In the ninth year of the Xiantong reign of Emperor Yizong of Tang, 868 AD, this is the earliest printed work in the world to indicate the publication time.
There is also a theory that woodblock printing was invented by Feng Dao during the Five Dynasties period. The “History of the Old Five Dynasties” records: “At that time, various scriptures were mistakenly recorded. (Feng Dao), along with fellow scholars such as Tian Min from Li Yu, used the stone scriptures carved by Zheng Qin in the Western Capital as printing plates, which were spread throughout the world and later advanced
The art of woodblock printing was not actually invented by a specific person, but rather the crystallization of the collective wisdom of ancient ancestors. After its emergence in the Han Dynasty, it began to be improved and widely promoted in the Tang Dynasty, and gradually flourished during the Five Dynasties period.