Top 10 greatest inventions of ancient China
- By Lin Liyao
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E-mail China.org.cn, March 4, 2011
Movable-type printing
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Bi Sheng of the Northern Song Dynasty (960－1127) invented movable clay type printing. [china.com.cn] |
The Chinese invention of Woodblock printing first appeared over 2,000 years ago, and produced the world's first printings. In the Tang Dynasty (618－907), Chinese began to print with carved blocks. Then in the 1040s, Bi Sheng of the Northern Song Dynasty (960－1127) invented movable clay type printing, which marked a beginning of a major revolution in the history of printing. Bi's printing consisted of four processes: making the types, composing the text, printing and retrieving the movable types. After that, Wang Zhen of the Northern Song Dynasty and Hua Sui of the Ming Dynasty (1368－1644) invented wooden and metal movable-type printing. All later printing methods such as wooden-type, copper-type and lead-type printing invariably were developed on the basis of Bi Sheng' idea.
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