Traditional Chinese bookbinding

[1] Up until the 9th century during the mid-Tang dynasty, most Chinese books were bound scrolls made of materials such as bamboo, wood, silk, or paper.

Originally bamboo and wooden tablets were tied together with silk and hemp cords to fold onto each other like an accordion.

[2] During the 9th and 10th centuries, bound scrolls were gradually replaced by a new book format known as "butterfly binding" (經摺裝), from the late Tang period onward.

Woodblock prints also made the new format easier by allowing two mirror images to be easily replicated on a single sheet.

The sheets were then pasted together at the fold to make a codex with alternate openings of printed and blank pairs of pages.

[4] The next development known as "whirlwind binding" (xuanfeng zhuang 旋風裝) was to secure the first and last leaves to a single large sheet, so that the book could be opened like an accordion.

Stronger and better quality papers may be used for more detailed works that involve multicoloured woodblock printing.