The first discovery of woodblock printing and movable type were found in China since 700 approximately. Seals and carvings are considered as the earliest applications of printing in China. The technique of sculpting a mirror symbol or image was generally performed on the hard objects, including Shang metal, stone, jade, clay or wood from Shang dynasty.

The earliest discovery dharani charm scroll（陀羅尼經咒） about the application of woodblock printing with the particular Chinese character was found in Korea in the 8th Century. In the Tang dynasty, the themes of printing were mainly related to Buddhism materials, Alamance or metaphysics.

While woodblock printing developed widely, the movable type printing immersed in China rapidly in the 10th century. The technique of movable type was one of the “The Four Great Inventions” that was invented by Bi Sheng in the Song dynasty and then disseminated to the Asian countries such as Korea, Japan and Vietnam. Apart from the Buddhist materials, Alamance and metaphysics, the themes of printings were becoming wider and wider during the Song and Yuen dynasty. For instance, the Taoist and Confucian materials, literature and historical reviews were common in daily life.

Under the influence of Ming treasure voyages (the seven expeditions of Cheng Ho), the application of Chinese printing was becoming broader and the themes also became more diverse from traditional topic to new and western topic in late Ming dynasty, for example, numerous printings on the western oceans, literature, art or technology were appeared during that period. During the 16th century, the western knowledge had been enriching Chinese intellectual circles owing to the arrival of Jesuit missionaries. The printing of western religious, scientific, humanities and institutions literature were popular among intellectuals circles by studying a mass of printings. Until the 19th century, due to the decline of the empire and the introduction of new technologies by Western countries, China's printing industry gradually declined.