Close to the entrance of China's pavilion at New Delhi World Book Fair inside Pragati Maidan, visitors have gathered around a desk to watch an ancient printing technique and publishing culture.
Li Ying was busy smearing red ink on an engraved sandal woodblock. Hurriedly she lifts a leaf of ivory colored foolscap paper (xuan paper) from a ream of sheets and adjusts it over the block. Once satisfied, she picks up a roller and gently presses the paper to allow the inscriptions to be cast on it. She lifts the paper to reveal a freshly printed image of Buddha expounding something to his disciples.
Li Ying smilingly hands it over to the visitors one by one, much to their delight.
She allows the inquisitive visitors to try their hands on a somewhat smaller blocks on her desk. Intermittently while she takes out prints from her block, she keeps on instructing those replicating the technique.
"It is a unique way to make prints and I will keep this as a souvenir in my home," Ashish, a visitor said. "The image of Buddha along with her disciples is really thought provoking."
Like Ashish, Paromita Singh watched the technique and asked for a print for herself to take home.
"I had made my mind to visit the stall, as China had been named the guest of honor this year," Singh said. "I was sure there would be something interesting and different there."
Li Ying, a researcher from the China Printing Museum is part of a visiting delegation and demonstrates on-the-spot printing techniques as part of an interaction-based installation.
She said she has handed out more than 200 prints of woodblock printing of Sakyamuni preaching, to visitors during the first three hours after the festival began on Saturday.
"This is a very old printing technique and dates back to AD 868 and the illustration is a perfect representation of the great printing techniques of the Tang Dynasty," she said. "It is very meaningful to people here in India because it is about Buddhism."
A few steps past the printing demonstration, visitors are led to a space meant for showcasing Chinese tea culture.
The organizers dressed in beautiful attire enthrall the audience with the art of the tea dance featuring the making of tea and the offering of the cups on a tray. The visitors sip the small cups and take the small tea packets home as gifts.
"The tea culture is a key part of traditional Chinese culture and the exhibition is an effort to show our culture using tea as a symbol," said Wang Xufeng, dean of the Tea Culture School in Zhejiang Agriculture and Forestry University.
At the tea exhibition stall, the organizers have brought six kinds of tea for the Indian visitors.
The fair will continue until January 17 much to the delight of book lovers.
"It is really good to have a taste of real Chinese tea. Frankly speaking, it has refreshed my taste buds," Amit Malhotra said. "I am definitely going to spread the word about this tea exhibition to my friends."
