Huizhou Woodblock Print

Chinese wood carving prints in the Ming Dynasty became more popular as the printing technology and the civil culture became more developed. Huizhou (nowdays Huangshan City) was then recognized as the wood carving prints center. In the period of Wan Li, folk wood carving print business was very popular in the cities of Huizhou, Hangzhou, Wuxing, Suzhou and so on. The wood carving prints of Huizhou were particularly well known. Businessmen and carvers from Huizhou were everywhere in China. "Stories of Pi Pa", and "Stories of North Xi Xiang" by Wang Guanghua were the best representative works of the Hui School wood carving prints and were used for book illustrations. Some of the best known printers are member from the Huang family. The Jinling (nowadays Nanjing) wood carving prints which had a strong Hui School influence were known for its picture illustrations for opera and novel books.