By staff reporter Zhou Jing
Nanjing, which has served as China's capital city ten times during its 2,500-year-long history, is famed for its rich and splendid culture.
One of the highlights of that culture is the tradition of woodblock printing, which reached its highest development in the workshops of ancient Nanjing. The tradition is preserved at Jinling Buddhism Publishing House, now the only surviving publisher of woodblock-printed Buddhist scriptures in Chinese.
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Jinling Buddhist Publishing House, which produces Buddhist scriptures using traditional methods of block-printing, is located at 35, Huaihai Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province.
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Deputy Manager Xiao Yongming told China.org.cn that the publishing house still uses the traditional method of water-color printing using carved wooden blocks, and the printed sheets are bound into volumes by hand using white thread.
The unique techniques of traditional Chinese handcraft can be observed during the process of woodblock printing. In the workshop the book passes through three stages on its way to becoming a finished product.
Carving the woodblocks is the first step. Specially selected birch-leaf pear wood is boiled and immersed for long periods to remove sugar and avoid damage by parasites. The blocks are brushed with a layer of rapeseed oil to make carving easier.
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A skilled worker carves a woodblock. Specially-selected birchleaf pear wood is used to make woodblocks.
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After carving comes the printing. The pages are printed by hand using Chinese ink and high-quality rice paper called Xuan paper, traditionally used in Chinese painting and calligraphy.
Finally, the pages are bound into volumes. The pages are punched and bound with traditional white cotton string. Each new-born book is then labeled manually. Next to the labeling worktable, is a cabinet holding finished volumes of sutras.
In May 2006, the woodblock printing techniques used by Jinling Buddhism Publishing House were listed by the government as part of China's intangible cultural heritage, and singled out for special protection. Woodblock carver Ma Mengqing was honored by the Jiangsu provincial government as one of the guardians of the province's cultural heritage.
