Chips off the old block

Book printed with woodblock. [Photo by Feng Yongbin/China Daily]

The work lasted until March last year, after which 274 copies of the book were printed, and they went on display in Stockholm in mid April.

"It's all handmade, from carving to printing to binding," Jiang says. "When the book and the woodblocks went on display in Stockholm, those who saw them were in awe because in the West there is no tradition of thread-bound books."

Jiang kept just one woodblock piece from the Mo production - a piece produced twice in error.

Printing technology

When Zhao was studying at Beijing Jiaotong University for a law degree, which he gained in 2010, he became engrossed by ancient classic texts in the traditional thread-bound form in library.

"Different books have different fonts depending on when they were published," he says.

Apart from the literary content, the beauty of the characters thrills Zhao.

"It's simply beautiful."

These days only around five publishers in China produce books through traditional woodblock printing, and the year Zhao graduated he visited one of them, Guangling Ancient Books Printing House in Yangzhou, Jiangsu province.

"It was the first time I had really seen what those woodblocks were. It seemed like an impossible mission for me to make one, but I wanted to try."

Being an intern

He decided to stay as an intern, and after a year's internship in the printing house he became a student of Chen Yishi, one of the few people who holds state accreditation as a master of the engraved block printing technique.