Woodblock printing was invented earlier in Chinese history, but did not come into wide use until the Song dynasty.

When it did come into common use, printing provided much wider access to books than had been the case when manuscripts were laboriously copied by hand.

The availability of inexpensive texts led to an increase in literacy. One result was that more families could afford to finance a son's education, which led to a swelling of the ranks of examination candidates.

Another was that it gave a boost to the development of drama and other forms of popular culture. The story tellers in our scroll may have benefited from perusing prompt books.