gems, jade, China, Buddhism, early texts

A copy of the Tang dynasty–Chinese version of the Diamond Sūtra was found among the Dunhuang manuscripts in 1900 by Daoist monk Wang Yuanlu and sold to Aurel Stein in 1907. This is considered the earliest printed book, predating Gutenberg by over 500 years. The woodblock-printed copy of the Diamond Sutra in the British Library which is not the earliest example of block printing, but is the earliest example which bears an actual date.