At his studio in Beijing E-town on the south-eastern outskirts of China’s capital city, Zhang Xiaodong often immerses himself in the world of paper.
As he unfolds the chapters of a book in dragon-scale bookbinding format, hundreds of sheets of thin paper flow like ripples in the wind, and illustrations composed of patterned stripes on the pages gradually come to life, creating an almost three-dimensional reading experience.
Zhang is the only inheritor of this intangible cultural heritage that stretches back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907).
Also known as fish-scale binding, the technique was popular among imperial houses and literate upper-class families in ancient China because it shortened the length of scrolls, improved search efficiency, and provided a pleasing reading experience.
The finished works, often several
