Engravings

Engraving is one of the “Four Inventions” of ancient China . The industry of engraving in Yangzhou is the only one that has been preserved to print traditional thread-bound books using the technique of engraving. Almost all engraving plates in China are collected in Yangzhou , of which some 200,000 are plates of ancient books of the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The engraving in Yangzhou began in the middle Tang Dynasty, shortly after printing was invented. More than 1100 years ago, Yangzhou was famous for its printing of the poems of Yuan Zhen and Bai Juyi. The engraving industry in Yangzhou played an important role in China . The Sketch Book of the Dream Brook , the timeless work of Shen Kuo, was first engraved in Yangzhou . The industry of engraving culminated in the Qing Dynasty. Cao Yin , grandfather of Cao Xueqin , print Tang Poetry in Yangzhou under the order the emperor, which proves to be a very exquisite handicraft article. The first engraved version of The Scholars was also made in Yangzhou . During the Guangxu period, the publishing houses in Jiangning, Suzhou , Yangzhou , Hangzhou , Wuchang engraved The Twenty-Four Histories . The artists of Yangzhou played an important role in the completion of this massive work. The troops of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom print a lot of books, documents, and pamphlets after they had seized Yangzhou . At that time, most of the artists of engravings called to the Heavenly Capital – now Nanjing – were from Yangzhou .

Besides, the classics print in Yangzhou are also famous at home and abroad. After the founding of the PRC, Guangling Engraving and Pringting House of Ancient Books was set up to sift and preserve multitudinous plates of ancient books, and to engrave a lot of new ones. The engravings of Song of the South , The Romance of the Western Bower and so on have attracted theattention of both Chinese and foreign scholars.

Jiangsu Guangling Engraving and Printing House of Ancient Books (Guangling Engraving and Printing House for short) is located by the side of the Phoenix Bridge in Yangzhou . It was established with the approval of the General Administration of Press and Publication of the PRC. It can be called “a treasure of Jiangsu ”.

The Four Great Ancient Classics with embroidered portraits: The Monkey

The Four Great Ancient Classics with embroidered portraits: The Romance of Three Kingdoms

The Four Great Ancient Classics with embroidered portraits: The Dream of the Red Chamber

The Four Great Ancient Classics with embroidered portraits: The Outlaws of the Marsh

The Picture of Farming and Weaving made by the order of the royal palace

Buddhist classics engraved for the Institute of Dhyana Culture in Japan