The earliest date woodblock printing was used in China is unknown. The first physical examples of prints come during during the Tang dynasty in the 8th century CE, such as the Great Dharani Sutra, and a copy of the Lotus Sutra. However, textual evidence suggests that woodblock printing may have existed at an earlier date. While printing is unlikely to have existed in the 6th century, written descriptions of Buddhist monks in the 7th century describe the monks 'printing' (印; yìn) Buddhist images, though it is unclear if they meant woodblock printing, or simply the impression of pictures without ink.[1]
Block printing took on a critical role during the rise of paper money under the Northern Song dynasty. It wasused to print commercial paper money, used as a critical financial medium, and to print religious paper money, an extremely important element of religious life in the Song dynasty, en masse.[2]
Barrett, Timothy Hugh (2008). The Woman who Discovered Printing. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN978-0-300-20425-4.
Chafee, John W.; Twitchet, Denis (2015). The Five Dynasties and Sung China, 960-1279 AD. The Cambridge History of China. Vol. 5 Part 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-1-139-19306-1.
Chia, Lucille (2003). Printing for Profit: The Commercial Publishers of Jianyang, Fujian (11th-17th Centuries). Harvard University Studies in East Asian Law. Boston: Brill. ISBN978-0-674-00955-4.
———; De Weerdt, Hilde, eds. (2011). Knowledge and Text Production in an Age of Print: China, 900-1400. Sinica leidensia. Leiden: Brill. ISBN978-90-04-19228-7.
Tsien, Tsuen-hsuin (1985). Needham, Joseph (ed.). Paper and Printing. Science and Civilisation in China. Vol. 5 Part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN978-0-521-08690-5.
