The basic technique of woodblock printing consists of first writing the words or sketching the image onto a sheet of thin paper, which then is glued to a wooden plate. The paper is removed, leaving the design on the wood, which then is carved with a Quan Dao (a special knife used for woodblock carving). The portion to be printed is left at surface level, while all other areas are carved away. The surface portion then is inked and can be used to make multiple impressions.
Early use of smaller stamps on cloth can be found in China from the third century A.D. The earliest mention of woodblock printing of text was for printing Buddhist scriptures in the early Tang Dynasty (618-907). The "Diamond Sutra," discovered in 1907, is the earliest actual "book" (actually a 16-foot long scroll) that has been found, and is dated to 868. However, it is considered to be of such high quality that experts assume woodblock printing for text had been in use for quite some time previously.
Woodblock printing of pictures followed its use for text. During the Song Dynasty (960-1278), many examples can be found of Buddhist images decorating religious texts. The Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) saw woodblock used in even more artistic ways, and also the use of more complex coloring techniques, but it was still largely used only to reproduce existing images.
Only in the 20th century did Chinese artists begin to carve the woodblocks to create their own art. During this time, its use by political movements as a means of expression also became common. Woodblock printing now is used by many artists, and is seen as a merging of traditional and modern Chinese art.