Earliest Dated Printed Book Created in China
During the Tang Dynasty, woodblock printing technology had advanced sufficiently to produce multiple copies of texts efficiently. A Buddhist devotee named Wang Jie commissioned the printing of the Diamond Sutra, a key Mahayana text, to honor his parents through widespread free distribution. On May 11, 868 CE, the completed scroll was finished, bearing a precise colophon with the date in the Chinese calendar. The seven-sheet document included a frontispiece illustration and measured about 17 feet long when unrolled. This artifact, later discovered in the Dunhuang caves, survives today in the British Library as tangible evidence of early printing mastery.
Why it matters: The Diamond Sutra predates European printing by centuries and demonstrates sophisticated Chinese technological innovation in dissemination of knowledge. It influenced Buddhist practice, textual preservation, and the eventual global spread of printing techniques that transformed education and culture worldwide.