Movable-type printing
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Bi Sheng of the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127) invented movable clay type printing. [coinsky.com]
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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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