How to become a Prepress Technician

Official Chinese title (2022 occupational classification): 印前处理和制作员

Also called: Prepress Graphics Worker, Lithographic Platemaker, Flexographic Platemaker, Screen Platemaker, Gravure Platemaker, Solid Resin Platemaker, Collotype Platemaker

Uses design software and equipment and platemaking machines to design and process text and images, lay out and impose pages, make proofs and make printing plates.

Main tasks

• Entering text and scanning or photographing images with computers, scanners or cameras
• Hand lettering and designing series of 2D and 3D display lettering with type design tools
• Separating colours in images on computer, laying out text and graphics, storing and sending them and making standard digital files
• Making digital proofs and outputting film and plates with computers and other equipment
• Making flexo plates, PS plates, CTP plates, screen plates and solid resin plates with exposure and developing equipment
• Engraving gravure cylinders and proofing them with computers and engraving equipment
• Preparing and machining gravure cylinders and treating their surfaces with cutting, welding, turning, grinding and plating equipment
• Checking and controlling the quality of platemaking, film and plates with magnifiers and instruments

Ways in

• Vocational majors: Higher vocational college (高职专科) major: Digital Graphic Information Processing Technology (560101). Vocational major 560101 Digital Graphic Information Processing Technology (数字图文信息处理技术), 3 years. The Ministry of Education's 2022 major profiles list this occupation among those the major prepares students for (职业面向). Example certificates: Publishing Professional Qualification; New Media Editing; Digital Image Processing.; Higher vocational college (高职专科) major: Digital Prepress Technology (480303). Vocational major 480303 Digital Prepress Technology (印刷数字图文技术), 3 years. The Ministry of Education's 2022 major profiles list this occupation among those the major prepares students for (职业面向). Example certificates: Creative Product Design; Digital Image Processing.; Higher vocational college (高职专科) major: Digital Printing Technology (480301). Vocational major 480301 Digital Printing Technology (数字印刷技术), 3 years. The Ministry of Education's 2022 major profiles list this occupation among those the major prepares students for (职业面向).; Higher vocational college (高职专科) major: Print Media Technology (480302). Vocational major 480302 Print Media Technology (印刷媒体技术), 3 years. The Ministry of Education's 2022 major profiles list this occupation among those the major prepares students for (职业面向).; Secondary vocational school (中职) major: Print Media Technology (680301). Vocational major 680301 Print Media Technology (印刷媒体技术), 3 years. The Ministry of Education's 2022 major profiles list this occupation among those the major prepares students for (职业面向).

Pay · AI and this job

• Median pay in China: CN¥66,400 a year (2025).
• Middle half: CN¥50,400 to CN¥90,500. One in ten earn less than CN¥38,000 and one in ten more than CN¥121,200.
• This is the figure for the mid group Printing and Recording Media Reproduction Workers, not for this job alone.
• National figure: wage prices of enterprise employees from the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS) enterprise pay survey. The public sector and the self-employed are not covered.
• Guangzhou only: median CN¥88,941 a year (2025), middle half CN¥65,000 to CN¥108,407.
• This is the figure for the minor group Printing Workers, not for this job alone.
• Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Who does this work

• The census group Printing and Recording Media Reproduction Workers holds 0.15% of everyone employed in China; 37.2% of its workers are women (2020 Census).
• 41.6% are under 35, 52.7% are 35 to 54 and 5.7% are 55 or older. The middle age band is 35 to 39.
• Census figures for the whole mid group (2020 long-form sample), not for this job alone.

Related jobs

• Printing Machinist
• Print Finisher and Bookbinder

Not sure this is for you? Take the 2-minute career quiz

Questions people ask

How do I become a Prepress Technician?

Ways in include: Higher vocational college (高职专科) major: Digital Graphic Information Processing Technology (560101); Higher vocational college (高职专科) major: Digital Prepress Technology (480303).

How much does a Prepress Technician earn in China?

Across China, the median pay of enterprise employees is CN¥66,400 a year (Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS), 2025). The public sector and the self-employed are not covered. It is the figure for the mid group Printing and Recording Media Reproduction Workers. In Guangzhou alone it is CN¥88,941 a year (2025).

Will AI change the work of a Prepress Technician?

Generative AI can do relatively little of this work, by the ILO's global estimate.

Sources

• Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security (MOHRSS): 2025 enterprise pay survey information: wage prices of enterprise employees by occupation mid group, and digital occupations (P10 to P90 annual CNY) (2025 (published 2026-07-08)), retrieved 5 October 2026
• Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau: Guangzhou 2025 labour market wage prices (P10 to P90 annual CNY by occupation) (2025 (enterprise pay survey)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• National Bureau of Statistics of China: China Population Census Yearbook 2020, long-form tables 4-6 and 4-7 (employed by occupation mid group, sex, age) (2020 Census long form (10% sample)), retrieved 4 October 2026
• International Labour Organization, Generative AI and Jobs: A Refined Global Index of Occupational Exposure (ILO Working Paper 140, Gmyrek et al.) (ILO Working Paper 140, May 2025, Annex Table A1), CC BY 4.0, retrieved 4 October 2026

Sources: Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition, public consultation draft), Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, State Administration for Market Regulation and National Bureau of Statistics; Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, 2025 enterprise pay survey information; Guangzhou Human Resources and Social Security Bureau, 2025 labour market wage prices; National Bureau of Statistics of China (www.stats.gov.cn), 2020 Population Census yearbook; Ministry of Education, vocational education major profiles (2022 revision) and undergraduate major catalogue (2025); Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, national vocational qualifications catalogue (2021); O*NET interest scores (CC BY 4.0); ILO global generative AI exposure index (CC BY 4.0). Figures processed by Peernovo. English text, translations and the matching of occupations to ISCO-08, majors, degree fields and qualifications by Peernovo.

Descriptions and tasks are Peernovo's own words, written from the facts in the Occupational Classification of the People's Republic of China (2022 edition). Job titles and work types are the classification's own.

Updated 5 October 2026