Jeremy Norman’sHistoryofInformation.com Exploring the History of Information and Media through Timelines
Jeremy Norman’s
A: Lianhu Qu, Xian Shi, Shaanxi Sheng, China, B: Dunhuang Shi, Jiuquan Shi, Gansu Sheng, China
The Chinese practice of cutting in stone the text of the Confucian classics in order to ensure permanency and accuracy may date back as far as 175 CE. However, the earliest date to which ink rubbings on paper from these stones— a kind of pre-printing—can be assigned with certainty is the reign of Taizong of Tang (T'ai Tsung), 627-649 CE, during which "a rubbing was made which was discovered by Pelliot at Tun-huang" (Carter, History of Printing in China, 2nd ed [1955] 20).
