the movable type printing technique was invented in ad 1040.
the movable type printing technique was invented in ad 1040.
when was the movable type printing technique invented?
ad 1040
Na
Na
the movable type invented by bi sheng was ultimately trumped by the use of woodblock printing due to the limitations of the enormous chinese character writing system, yet movable type printing continued to be used and was improved in later periods. the yuan dynasty scholar-official wang zhen (fl. 1290–1333) implemented a faster typesetting process, improved bi's baked-clay movable type character set with a wooden one, and experimented with tin-metal movable type. the wealthy printing patron hua sui (1439–1513) of the ming dynasty established china's first metal movable type (using bronze) in 1490. in 1638 the beijing gazette switched their printing process from woodblock to movable type printing. yet it was during the qing dynasty that massive printing projects began to employ movable type printing. this includes the printing of sixty-six copies of a 5,020 volume long encyclopedia in 1725, the "gujin tushu jicheng" ("complete collection of illustrations and writings from the earliest to current times"), which necessitated the crafting of 250,000 movable type characters cast in bronze. by the 19th century the european style printing press replaced the old chinese methods of movable type, while traditional woodblock printing in modern east asia is used sparsely and for aesthetic reasons.
song dynasty