Engraved Block Printing Technique
01 · Historical Records
According to records, the Yangzhou block-printing craft was first created in the Tang dynasty and saw unprecedented development in the Qing dynasty; during the Kangxi reign, more than three thousand volumes of palace library books, including the 'Complete Tang Poems' (Quan Tang shi), were printed. In 1960, the Yangzhou Guangling Classical Books Printing Society was established, becoming the institutional body for transmitting the block-printing craft.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Block-printing craft emerged in the Sui and Tang periods; in the Song dynasty, Bi Sheng invented movable-type printing on this basis, yet block printing was not replaced by movable type and continued to occupy a dominant position in the printing industry of ancient China. At present, the block-printing craft can be seen at the Yangzhou Guangling Classical Books Printing Society, where a group of block-printing artisans have gathered and nearly 300,000 engraved printing blocks are preserved; hence the craft is called the Yangzhou block-printing craft. The process of block printing is extremely complex and can be roughly divided into four stages, each stage comprising several procedures. The first is material preparation—making the blocks, preparing the paper, and preparing the ink; the second is block carving—writing the text on the block, proofreading, mounting on the block, and engraving; the third is inking and printing, with color registration; the fourth is binding. The Yangzhou Guangling Classical Books Printing Society preserves the only complete set of ancient-book block-printing process flows in the country, comprising more than twenty process steps; the entire flow exudes an archaic and elegant cultural aura. However, as a self-financed public institution, this society now faces the prospect of conversion into an enterprise; the market economy is bearing down on the traditional block-printing craft, and measures must be taken to protect it.
Writing the sample and mounting it on the block
Printing begins with the written sample. A calligrapher copies the text in regular script onto thin, tough paper to make a proof sheet; after repeated proofreading, the sheet is pasted face-down onto a smoothed pear-wood block, dampened and rubbed with a palm-fibre brush; peeling away the paper backing leaves the ink characters transferred completely onto the block — the step known as mounting.
Fine carving with the fist-held knife on pear wood
Engraving follows the mounted block. The carver works with the fist-held quan knife, gripped like a fist and driven by the wrist: the counter spaces within each character are cleared first, then the stroke edges are cut, every horizontal, vertical and diagonal stroke following its own knife work. The fine-grained, resilient pear wood rewards a steady hand — one slip and the whole character must be re-cut, with pocket-edition characters testing the carver most.
Inking and multi-block colour printing
The finished block lies flat on the printing bed while a palm-fibre brush spreads pine-soot ink evenly over it; a single sheet of paper then yields a monochrome leaf. For colour leaves the dou-block method is used: each tone is cut on its own small blocks — dozens or hundreds in all — printed in turn from light to dark and registered position by position, so that one leaf may take dozens of impressions to complete.
Laying the paper, printing and binding
Once the block is inked, moistened xuan paper is laid over it and gently rubbed on the reverse with a clean palm-fibre brush; lifting the sheet yields one printed leaf. The leaves are aired briefly, then trimmed to the frame, folded, pressed flat, squared, corner-wrapped, collated section by section and sewn with thread into a thread-bound volume — all twenty-odd steps of the complete flow are carried out by the artisans of the Yangzhou Guangling Classical Books Printing Society.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Block-printing craft emerged in the Sui and Tang periods; in the Song dynasty, Bi Sheng invented movable-type printing on this basis, yet block printing was not replaced by movable type and continued to occupy a dominant position in the printing industry of ancient China. At present, the craft can be seen at the Yangzhou Guangling Classical Books Printing Society, where a group of block-printing artisans have gathered and nearly 300,000 engraved printing blocks are preserved; hence the craft is called the Yangzhou block-printing craft.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Engraved Block Printing Technique · Engraved Block Printing Technique · Engraved Block Printing Technique.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Chen Yishi (per the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1947, from Yangzhou, Jiangsu Province. A representative inheritor of the first national-level batch of the block-printing craft, a national intangible cultural heritage project; a senior arts-and-crafts master and a Jiangsu Provincial master of arts and crafts. Coupled with decades of diligent practice, his mastery is profound and his skill exquisite and fluent; he wields the carving knife with ease across the regular (zhen), cursive (cao), clerical (li), and seal (zhuan) script styles, and is especially accomplished in the Song-style and regular (kai) typefaces. His Song-style engraved blocks have sharp, well-defined strokes, with each character seemingly standing upright on the board; the books he prints are clear, beautiful, and elegant, combining the neat solemnity of Northern Song editions, the refined vigor and roundness of Southern Song editions, and the gentle softness of Yuan editions. His artistic style is uniquely his own and is esteemed by his peers. The block plates Chen Yishi participated in carving include the 'Collected Autograph Carvings of Zen Master Hakuyin' and the 'Litang Daoting lu'; the movable types he carved include the 'Three Hundred Tang Poems,' the 'Art of War by Sun Tzu,' and 'Seventy-Six Poems by Mao Zedong,' among others. Chen Yishi's block-printing skill has already been passed on to his daughter.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Chen Yishi 01-0191
- Huang Xiaojian 05-2774
- Xiawuta 05-2775
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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