One layer at a time

Why spend months reproducing a painting by hand when a high-resolution scan can preserve every visible detail in seconds?

Li does not see the two as interchangeable. "Modern printing may reproduce the appearance of an image with increasing accuracy. But traditional woodblock printing carries something else: knowledge of materials, ways of seeing, historical experience, and the accumulated judgment of generations of craftsmen."

Li finds the craft's value lies partly in preserving one of the most original forms of China's traditional printing and reproduction techniques, along with the cultural knowledge embedded in them. It also records how Chinese printing influenced the development of printmaking more broadly.

The greatest threat may not be technology, but people. "Young people do come to learn the technique, particularly those with professional training in fine art. That background can be a major advantage, especially during the color-separation stage, which requires an ability to distinguish subtle differences in tone, texture and visual structure," Li says.