Woodblock Printing Art Exhibition Hall

Woodblock Printing Art Exhibition Hall

The art of Yangzhou woodblock printing originated in the Tang Dynasty, developed during the Song, Yuan, and Ming Dynasties, and reached unprecedented prosperity in the Qing Dynasty. Yangzhou was once one of the national printing centers throughout various dynasties. The Complete Tang Poems, published under imperial decree by the Yangzhou Poetry Bureau in the Qing Dynasty, had a significant nationwide impact due to its meticulous editing and carving. The works of Chinese woodblock printing are vast as the ocean, featuring many treasures and masterpieces. Today, these ancient printing blocks and printed books have become national treasures. Currently, only the Guangling Ancient Books Engraving and Printing Society in Yangzhou preserves the complete set of woodblock printing techniques, continuing to print traditional thread-bound ancient books using traditional craftsmanship. This ensures that China’s woodblock printing tradition and its cultural form continue to shine, passing the torch and benefiting humanity. It is hailed as “a unique marvel of China and a treasure of the world.”

The Woodblock Printing Art Exhibition Hall is an enterprise exhibition hall established by Yangzhou Guangling Ancient Books Engraving and Printing Society Co., Ltd. It is mainly dedicated to the inheritance of woodblock printing techniques. In 2006, woodblock printing was designated as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage, and in 2009, it was included in the UNESCO "Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity," with the Guangling Ancient Books Engraving and Printing Society appointed as the global heritage unit for Chinese woodblock printing. Today, the engraving and printing society has evolved into an integrated ancient book printing enterprise encompassing research, planning, production, and distribution. It boasts over 70 national, provincial, and municipal-level master craftsmen and professional technicians. Since its establishment in 2010, the venue has relocated several times and has now moved to No. 1 Yuzhi Street. Additional investments have been made to expand and renovate the exhibition hall, with the new address offering an exhibition area of over 700 square meters.

The Woodblock Printing Art Exhibition Hall focuses on introducing and displaying the characteristics of the craft. The entire exhibition hall is divided into three major sections: the first is the Introduction and Exhibition Area (including the history of woodblock printing, the organizational forms of woodblock printing, the characteristics of woodblock printing techniques, and the production process of woodblock printing techniques); the second is the Sample Exhibition Area (featuring both the creation of woodblocks and displays of woodblock-printed sample books); and the third is the Demonstration and Interaction Area.

Since its establishment, the Woodblock Printing Art Exhibition Hall has attracted a large number of visitors and tourists. Every Saturday, we hold a Public Open Day event, organizing community residents, school students, and employees from enterprises and institutions to visit. Since its opening, the exhibition hall has welcomed over 100,000 visitors. To further promote woodblock printing, the hall regularly hosts salon lectures. Additionally, we go out to participate in intangible cultural heritage exhibitions, traditional crafts exhibitions, and book fairs across the country, bringing some of the exhibition items and interactive elements to these events. These efforts have received widespread acclaim, with cumulative visitor numbers exceeding one million.

In recent years, our exhibition hall has also been designated as a practical education base or patriotic education base by several universities and colleges, including Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication, Nanjing University of Finance & Economics, Nanjing Jinling Institute of Technology, and Nanjing Mochou Secondary Vocational and Technical School.