Woodblock printing, like paper, was developed in China.  The worldwide oldest known woodblock book, the diamond-sutra from Dunhuang, dates from 868.  The first motives were religious.  For believers in Buddhism pictures of saints and amulets were reproduced this way.  However, woodblock printing in China was not considered to be a separate form of art, and only just used for exact copying of existing paintings.

Mostly, pear wood is used to make the blocks.  The design is done on a special thin paper. For transferring it to the block, the block is rubbed with rice paste and the front side of the paper is pasted on quickly.  Afterwards the back of the paper is rubbed off very carefully by hand, until only the painted lines remain on the block.

Cutting is done with a special fist knife (quan dao), perfectly fitted to the fist of the user.  As opposed to the Japanese and Western woodblock, the different details of design are not cut into a single block but divided onto several different small blocks, which are fixed to the right position at the printing table.  This is done with a resin, which is flexible when warm, and keeps the blocks in place after hardening.

For every printing the blocks have to be inked with a special printing brush made from palm leaf fibers.  After that, one of the papers is flipped over them and rubbed with a tool, which is a piece of wood covered with palm leaf fibers and topped with horse hair.  When all the papers are printed and dried, the printing of the next color can start.  Printing is done on dry paper or silk.