Ceramic movable type
Imprenta de tipos móviles de arcilla
- Date
- c. 1044 · confidence high
- Place
- Hangzhou / Kaifeng, Song China
- Credited to
- Bi Sheng (described by Shen Kuo in the Dream Pool Essays)
- People
- 👤 Bi Sheng1000–1051
- Field
- Knowledge & symbols
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
Individual characters of fired clay fixed with resin onto an iron plate, reusable after printing. The first movable-type printing system in history.
There is debate over whether Gutenberg knew of the Asian technique; most historians regard the European invention as independent.
What it led to
- wooden type (Wang Zhen, 1313) and Korean metal type
- a demonstration of the principle of typographic composition
- a practical limitation in Chinese, owing to the thousands of characters, which kept woodblock printing in use
Built on
- Woodblock printing868
- Woodblock printing
- seals and ink stamping
Made possible
- Korean metal movable type1234
- Wooden movable type with revolving case1313
- Bronze movable type (Hua Sui)1490
- Korean metal movable type
- Gutenberg printing press