Ceramic Movable Type In China

In the west johannes gutenberg usually gets credit for the invention of the printing press in 1440 which involved building frames of types that could be operated by hand to print books.

Ceramic movable type in china.

Movable type was never widely used in china because whole block printing was less expensive but when movable type reached europe in the 15th century it revolutionized the communication of ideas. Movable type was invented in the northern song dynasty around the year 1041 by the commoner bi sheng. As described by the chinese scholar shen kuo 沈括 1031 1095. Movable type is the system of printing and typography using individual pieces of type.

When he wished to print he took an iron frame and set it on the iron plate. His printing system was invented between 1041 and 1048 during the song dynasty. Bi sheng 毕昇 畢昇 990 1051 developed the first known movable type system for printing in china around 1040 ad during the northern song dynasty using ceramic materials. Ceramic movable type in china.

More than four centuries earlier the chinese inventor bi sheng 990 1051 ad created the world s first known movable type system for printing. Typesetting is an ancient art. Movable type was first created by bi sheng 990 1051 who used baked clay which was very fragile. He composed texts by placing the types side by side on an iron plate coated with a mixture of resin wax and paper ash.

Bi sheng s movable type was fired in porcelain. Moveable type in british english is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document usually individual alphanumeric characters or punctuation marks usually on the medium of paper. Bi sheng 毕昇 990 1051 developed the first known movable type system for printing in china around 1040 ad during the northern song dynasty using ceramic materials. As described by the chinese scholar shen kuo 沈括 1031 1095.

9 as described by the chinese scholar shen kuo 1031 1095. Block printing technique was an expensive and time consuming process for each carved block could only be used for a specific page of a particular book. Between 1041 and 1048 the chinese alchemist bi sheng 畢昇 invented movable type made of an amalgam of clay and glue hardened by baking similar to chinese porcelain. The first known movable type system for printing using ceramic materials was created in china around 1040 ad by bi sheng 990 1051.

After his death the ceramic movable type passed onto his descendants. Movable type us english.