In fight to save the old, modern machines are an ally

Wang Lu, founder of the Oude woodblock printing workshop. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Unlike many woodblock carvers who promote engraved block printing by teaching it to others, Wang Lu thinks the best way to raise awareness of the old craft and thereby help ensure its survival is to give the uninitiated some hands-on experience of it.

Recently Wang organized an event in the Beijing Ancient Coin Museum in which he presented woodblocks engraved with the pattern of banknotes used in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and made ink and brushes available to museum visitors so they could get a feel of what printing the old money was like.

"People were excited about becoming 'rich' with the 'money' they printed themselves," Wang says. Parents of about 15 children took them to take part in the do-It-yourself money printing.

"On Aug 13, we held a similar event in the National Library in Beijing, and this time members of the public generally had the chance to print on old Chinese letter paper."

Each program is preceded by a 20-minute introduction to woodblock printing techniques that includes a brief history of the craft, he says.

Wang is the founder of Oude Woodblock Printing Workshop. Unlike in traditional woodblock workshops, which are highly manual-labor intensive, Wang uses machines to carve woodblocks and has organized more than 50 hands-on experience programs since last year.

Wang, 40, born in Shenyang, Liaoning province, says he had several occupations, including that of 3-D animation designer, English teacher and ancient-books seller, before he plumped for the printing business.

The workshop, founded in 2012, at first focused on making woodblocks to reprint ancient and rare books and selling them to collectors.

Wang soon found that if he commissioned artisans to make woodblocks it would take months if not years to produce just one book, so he had his own carving machine made specially for woodblock engraving.

In the first nine months he tested different wood pieces and carving machines, and modified them to reach what he reckoned was the same quality of handmade woodblocks.