hua sui invented the movable type printing press in china.
hua sui invented the movable type printing press in china.
who invented the movable type printing press in china?
hua sui
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
moveable type printing was invented in china in the eleventh century, and the technology was further refined in korea. according to the historian lawrence marceau, during the late-sixteenth century, dramatic changes in japanese printing technology were sparked by "two overseas sources". the first was the movable type printing-press established by the jesuits in kyushu in 1590. the second was the looting of korean books and book printing technology after the invasion of korea. before 1590, buddhist monasteries handled virtually all book printing in japan, and, according to historian donald shively, books and moveable type transported from korea "helped bring about the end of the monastic monopoly on printing." at the start of the invasion in 1592, korean books and book printing technology were one of japan's top priorities for looting, especially metal moveable type. one commander alone, ukita hideie, is said to have had 200,000 printing types and books removed from korea's gyeongbokgung palace. in 1593, a korean printing press with movable type was sent as a present for the japanese emperor go-yōzei. the emperor commanded that it be used to print an edition of the confucian "classic of filial piety". four years later in 1597, apparently due to difficulties encountered in casting metal, a japanese version of the korean printing press was built with wooden instead of metal type. in 1599, this press was used to print the first part of the nihon shoki. eighty percent of japan's book production was printed using moveable type between 1593 and 1625, but ultimately moveable type printing was supplanted by woodblock printing and was rarely used after 1650.
korean influence on japanese culture