China has been using illustrations in their stories since the 8th century this was with the invention of block printing. Block Printing as with many of mankind’s firsts originated in China. It originally was created to print images on textiles, the earliest extant example of this dates back to CE 25-220, it was only later that someone thought to use the blocks for creating text. The areas of text were originally quite small and were accompanied by large amounts of Imagery. These usually had a religious proverb to accompany it.
The world’s earliest precisely dated printed book is a Chinese scroll about 16 feet in length and is called the Diamond Sutra. It starts with an illustration of a Buddha who has finished his daily walk with the monks to gather offerings of food and has sit down to rest. This illustration tells the story that is contained in the large scroll.