Origins. Prior to the Tang dynasty (618-907) the Chinese used steles bearing transcripts and drawings as stamps or blocks to make reproductions of engraved pictures and well-known pieces of calligraphy. The Chinese also used rubbings and seals to produce impressions of written characters, drawings, and religious pictures. Printing developed steadily during the era of the Tang and Five Dynasties (907-960). A new technique was to print from carved woodblocks and create precise reproductions of manuscript pages from ancient texts.

Woodblock Printing. Buddhists, realizing the importance of printing for the spread of their faith, were among the first promoters of printing. The earliest printed text in the world was a Buddhist charm scroll printed in China between 704 and 751; one million copies were printed in 770 for a Japanese empress. Reproduced by woodblock printing in 868, the Buddhist Diamond Sutra, the first complete printed book in the...