Study On The Protection And Inheritance Of Woodblock Printing Technique

Since in2003that the UNESCO released the Protection of Intangible Culture Heritage, the inheritance and protection of intangible cultural heritage in China has moved forward greatly in both theoretical and practical levels with extensive and in-depth achievements. The enforcement of project makes China’s traditional culture live as a concrete and vivid ethnic cultural image in the field of the public attention and become the object of related protection research. Then, the significance of the cultural project, in the information era, has contributed dramatically to the inheritance and development of national culture as well as protection of its genetic diversity.The four historical inventions including compass, gunpowder, papermaking and printing are celebrated for their cultural significance and recognized as symbols of ancient China’s advanced science and technology. As a living fossil of traditional printing culture, the workmanship of woodblock printing has revived in the turning point of the20th century. The function of the woodblock printing continuously adapted to the history development with new content and new forms. Therefore, given the value is the reflection to the aesthetic and practical function in the handmade era, the Chinese traditional woodcut, from the visual perspective of contemporary culture, provided an additional carrier to the historical information. However, people’s cognition still stays on the painting reproductions over the woodblock printing technique. It’s the main reason that the handicraft cannot be treated as one of the main art streams. It also faces the doubt over its value exclusive of the existed function. In2008, woodblock technique was recorded in the protection list of China’s intangible cultural heritage and this drew an increasing attention of the numerous people but, a limited influence to the public. This study is going to elucidate the model and trend on the traditional craftsmanship with a case investigation on the handicraft.Based on the historical origination of the woodblock printing technique, I am trying to study the cultural factors which have influenced the quality of the technique with the related documents and records in different dynasties. The results show,1) Before the Sui and Tang dynasty, stone tablet rubbings, seals and other handicrafts with similar techniques can be seen as a preparation for the woodblock printing applied in the paper media.2) During the Sui and Tang dynasty, the first appearance of Buddha printed paper claimed the existence of woodblock printing technique.3) During the Song and Yuan Dynasty, woodblock printing images stood as visual interpretations of texts in the fields of agriculture, technology, medicine, astronomy, geography, and etc. Then Huapu of the kind made the first artistc expression in the woodblock printing.4) During the Ming and Qing dynasty, woodcut has developed to a prosperous level and the majority of books have their publishment with pictures. The well influential masterpieces, such as hua’pu in the late Ming and early Qing period, were even published with new inventions. These publications have later taken as valuable collections to researchers like scholars, painters and writers.5) From the late Qing Dynasty to the early20th century, the emergence of mechanical printing smashed the traditional printing industry, Zheng zhenduo and Lu Xun strongly advocated the protection on the traditional woodblock printing technology. Their efforts offered a good opportunity to initiate a new development on the technology.In this paper, the woodblock printing technique reserved in Shanghai Duoyunxuan was investigated from the angle of the protection of intangible cultural heritage. This study is trying to reveal the current status of the skill from the administration fabric, heritage carriers, art market operations and etc. Based on these surveys, the key point to the woodblock protection strategy should be focused on its inheritance and skill operation. On the one hand, the social status of the heritage practitioners should be emphasized so as to stabilize the inheritance system. On the other hand, the consumer orientation should be set as the target while the interdisciplinary market can be set up and making an effective interaction between production and innovation.