The Department of Printmaking is the originator of the New Woodcut Movement and was the first modern printmaking department in China. It was officially formed in 1954 and has consistently insisted upon revolutionary culture as the source of its artistic inspiration. Its curriculum is built on the cultivation of print-making technique and skill. It emphasizes the studio as the ideal place for learning and expanded ‘spiritual activation’. The Department takes on a sense of national accountability through the inspiration of its students.

The Department maintains four separate print-making facilities: The National Printmaking Studio, the New Realism Printmaking Studio, the Expressive Printmaking Studio and the Compound Printmaking Studio. These well-equipped studios include lithographic plate printing, intaglio, typographic printing, serigraphy, compound plate printing, and traditional woodblock printing.