Bi Sheng initially used wood as movable type, but the experiment found that the wood grain was sparse and inconsistent, easy to swell and deform after encountering water, and it was not easy to remove it after consolidating with the sticky, so he switched to cement.

Bi Sheng invented movable type printing, which improved the efficiency of printing. However, his invention was not taken seriously by the rulers and society of the time, and after his death, movable type printing remained unpopular. The clay type he created has not been preserved either. However, the movable type printing technology he invented has been passed down.

In 1965, the publication "Buddha Says and Views of Amitayus Buddhist Sutra" found in the White Elephant Pagoda in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province was identified as a movable type book from the Yuan Fu of the Northern Song Dynasty to Chongning () year. This is the earliest historical witness of Bisheng's movable type printing technology. [6]

Zhou Bida (year) of the Song Dynasty was once named the Duke of Jiguo, and when he was old, he learned Bi Sheng's method from Shen Kuo and printed his own writings. He also made a small change from an iron plate to a copper plate. Copper plates have better heat transfer than iron plates, and they are easy to melt the viscosity, but copper plates are more expensive than iron plates, which is nothing to a duke.

Yao Shu () of the Yuan Dynasty advocated movable type printing, and he taught his son Yang Gu to use movable type to print books, which were printed into Zhu Xi's "Primary School" and "Jinsi Lu", as well as Lu Zuqian's "Donglai Jing Historical Commentary" and other books. However, Yang Gu's clay type is a technique improved by the Song people after Bi Sheng, not Bi Sheng's original technology.

In the sixth year of Kangxi in the Qing Dynasty, Zhai Shiqi served as the official of Raozhou, collected magnetic households, and made a green magnetic "Book of Changes". According to expert analysis, the so-called green magnetic (movable type) may be a pottery movable type fired from porcelain clay used to make celadon.

In 1718, Xu Zhi, a native of Tai'an, Shandong, customized pottery movable type and printed "Zhou Yi Shuo Luo". He calcined the clay and made movable type for typesetting and printing, using the same method used by Bi Sheng.

In the 19th century, Zhai Jinsheng of Jing County, Anhui Province, came up with the idea of printing books with clay movable type because he read the Bi Sheng clay movable type technique described in Shen Kuo's "Mengxi Bi Tan". It took him 30 years to make more than 100,000 movable clay types.

In 1844, it was printed as the "First Edition of Clay Plate Trial Printing". Since then, he has printed many more books. In the 60~70s of the 20th century, thousands of seals engraved with movable clay characters made by Zhai Jinsheng were also found in Jing County. These movable types are available in five sizes, sizes. He proved the feasibility of Bi Sheng's invention with his own practice, and broke some people's doubts about the feasibility of clay type.

In 1962, Zhai's clay movable type mold was discovered in Huizhou, Anhui Province.

Wang Zhen, a contemporary of Yang Gu, created wooden movable type. Wang Zhen is a native of Dongping, Shandong, an agronomist, who served several terms as a county official, and he left a book summarizing the experience of ancient agricultural production - "The Book of Agriculture". Wang Zhen's methods of engraving, repairing, selecting, typesetting, and printing are all attached to this book.

He asked craftsmen to carve more than 30,000 movable wooden types in Jingde, Anhui Province, and in the second year of Yuan Chengzong Dade (1298), he tried to print more than 60,000 words of "Jingde County Chronicles", and printed 100 copies in less than a month, which shows the high efficiency. This is the first recorded movable type print.

Another contribution of Wang Zhen in printing technology was the invention of the rotary typesetting plate. A large wheel made of light wood, about seven feet in diameter and three feet high in the axle, is mounted on the axle and can rotate freely.

According to the classification method of ancient rhyme books, the wooden movable type is put into the grid in the plate. He made two pairs of such large roulette, and the typesetting worker sat between the two sets of roulette wheels and turned the roulette wheel to find the words, which is what Wang Zhen said, "to the word on the person, according to the rhyme to take the word". This not only improves the efficiency of typesetting, but also reduces the manual labor of typesetters.

It is a pioneering work in typesetting technology. Although the Yuan Dynasty wooden movable type printed book has been lost, there are hundreds of wooden movable type in Uyghur script at that time.

There were many wooden movable type books in the Ming Dynasty, and most of them used the traditional techniques of the Song and Yuan dynasties. In the 14th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty (1586), the "Tang Poetry Garden", "The Records of the World Temple", and the "Bishui Heroes to be Asked Huiyuan" in the Jiajingjian (about the year) are all printed copies of movable wooden type.

In the Qing Dynasty, the technology of movable type was developed like never before thanks to the support of the government. During the Kangxi period, wooden movable type books were popular, and large-scale printing of wooden movable type began with the release of the "Yingwudian Collector's Edition Series" in the Qianlong period. A total of 253,500 movable types of jujube wood were engraved into the book. Printed into the volume of "Yingwudian Collector's Edition Book Series". This is the largest printing of books with movable wooden type in Chinese history.

The use of metal materials to manufacture movable type is also a development direction of movable type printing. Before Wang Zhen, there were people who used tin to make movable type. However, tin is not susceptible to ink, and printing is very difficult and difficult to promote. In the 15th and 16th centuries, copper movable type was popular in Wuxi, Suzhou, and Nanjing, Jiangsu. Copper movable type printing entered a new climax in the Qing Dynasty, and the largest project was to print the number of 10,000 volumes of "Ancient and Modern Book Integration", and it is estimated that 10,000 copper movable type was used.

In 1965, in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, the remnants of the "Buddha Says the Concept of Amitayus Sutra" were found in Wenzhou, Zhejiang, with different font sizes, and some individual characters were horizontally, which was obviously a movable type.

In 1907, the French archaeologist Bo Xihe discovered a full set of Uyghur alphabet movable type dating back to 1300 years in Dunhuang. In 1928, a Chinese archaeological team found a Uyghur movable type print with Chinese characters in the Turpan area.

In 1322, Yin Ma of Fenghua County, Zhejiang Province was called De, and used 100,000 wooden movable characters to typeset and print "University Yanyi".

In 1490, the Chinese tunnel of Wuxi, Jiangsu, printed more than 1,000 volumes of books with movable copper type.

In 1574, 1,000 volumes of the Taiping Yulan were typeset with movable copper type.

In the Ming Dynasty, the printed materials printed with movable wooden type include "Bishui Qunying to be asked Huiyuan", "Siyou Zhai Cong Shuo", "Yanzi Spring and Autumn", "Small Character Record", "Luancheng Collection" and so on.

The Ming Dynasty copper movable type books include "Song Zhuchen Recital", "Weinan Anthology", "Shihu Jushi Collection", "Cao Zijian Collection", "Cai Zhonglang Anthology", "Wuzhong Water Conservancy Tongzhi", "Tang People Collection", "Yutai New Song" and so on.

In 1725, the Inner Government produced 250,000 pieces of copper movable type, and typeset and printed 64 sets of "Ancient and Modern Book Collections", totaling more than 320,000 volumes.

In 1733, Yongzheng edict made woodcut movable type. More than 250,000 woodcut movable types were completed within one year, and 2,300 volumes of "Wuyingdian Collector's Edition Series" were printed.

The existing movable type periodicals of the Qing Dynasty also include "Changzhou Mansion Chronicles", "Records of Jintai", "Wuxi County Chronicles", "Refined Compendium of Twenty-one Historical Popular Interpretations", "Dream of Red Mansions", "Wanli Yezhu Chapter", "Continuation of Capital Governance Tongjian Long Chapter", "Xuehai Chapter", "Southern Xinjiang Translation History Survey Edition", "Xianping Book House Initial Collection", "Five Books of Music", "Linlang Secret Room Series" and so on.

World development

At the end of the 13th century, Goryeo printed the "Qing Liang Answer Shun Zongxin Yao Method" with movable metal type, which is the earliest surviving metal movable type book in the world. [7]

In 1376, the wooden movable type "Tongjian Compendium" appeared in Korea.

In 1436, Joseon printed the Tongjian Compendium with movable lead type.

At the end of the 16th century, Japan published the "Ancient Text of Filial Piety" and "Persuasion of Learning" with movable type.

Around 1440, Johannes Gutenberg integrated a number of technologies that already existed in Europe at that time and invented movable type printing with lead characters, which soon spread in Europe, essentially promoting the industrialization of printing.

In 1584, the Spanish historian and missionary González de Mendoza proposed in his History of the Great Chinese Empire that Gutenberg was influenced by Chinese printing technology; Chinese printing came to Germany through two routes, one was through Russia, and the other was through Arab merchants who brought books to Germany, and Gutenberg used these Chinese books as the blueprint for his printing.

Mendoza's book was soon translated into French, English, and Italian, and had a great influence in Europe. The French historian Louis le Roy and the writer Michel de Montaigne, among others, agreed with Mendoza's argument. Sinologist Yasuda Park once argued that European movable type printing originated in China with the title of "A Masterpiece of Eurocentric Deception: The So-called Gutenberg May Be the Inventor of Printing".

The Italians owe the introduction of movable type printing to Europe to the Lombard-born Italian printer Pafiloca Stardi, who saw the movable type books that Marco Polo had brought back from China and printed them in movable type. For this purpose, the Italians erected a statue of him in his birthplace as a memorial.

The French sinologist Rulian once translated into French a historical material of Bi Sheng's invention of movable type printing in Shen Kuo's "Mengxi Pen Talk", and he was the first person to introduce the historical facts of Bi Sheng's invention of movable type printing to Europe.

Gutenberg's invention of the word lead actually contains lead, tin and antimony at the same time. Because the movable type alloy contains lead and other metals that are harmful to the human body, the use is troublesome and the process is insufficient, it gradually disappeared after the popularity of computer typesetting.

Movable type printing, armillary spheres, soy milk, these are all well-known inventions in Chinese, but many Koreans claim that their inventions belong to Korea. No, because one of Korea's ancient books has been recognized by UNESCO as the world's oldest movable metal type print, Koreans claim to be the ancestor of the invention of movable type printing.

Korean scholars dare to claim that the "country of origin" lies in the fact that there is evidence of both "movable type" and "printed cultural relics".

The first-hand evidence is "Baiyun Monk Transcription of the Buddha's Zhizhi Heart and Body Festival" (hereinafter referred to as "Zhizhi"). According to the official website of the South Korean Embassy in China, in June 2001, Jikji was finally recognized by UNESCO as the world's oldest movable metal type print. In September 2005, the Government of the Republic of Korea sponsored UNESCO to hold a major commemorative event for Jikji in Cheongju.

On the other hand, they restored Bi Sheng's clay movable type according to the records of "Mengxi Bi Tan", and found "problems", such as "fragile", "not firm" and so on. South Korean scholars have pointed out that Bi Sheng is still only in the theoretical stage, just an idea, and has not been put into practice.

Former President Kim Dae-jung personally participated in the activities of the Museum of Ancient Printing, and Cheongju and Gyeongju have "Jikji Road" and "Jikji Bridge" and so on - it can be seen that Koreans have regarded movable type printing as a golden sign for the development of tourism.

In order to create this golden sign, South Korea has spent hundreds of millions of dollars before and after - the Cheongju International Printing and Publishing Exhibition in 2000 and the 10th anniversary celebration of the opening of the Cheongju Ancient Printing Museum were held by the South Korean government with 15 billion won.

In defending the invention rights of movable type printing in China, Chinese experts and scholars have written hundreds of articles and written a series of academic monographs, such as Zhang Xiumin and Han Qi's "History of Chinese Movable Type Printing", Pan Jixing's "History of Chinese Movable Type Printing Technology", Shi Jinbo and Yasen. Wu Shouer's "The Invention and Early Spread of Chinese Movable Type Printing", Zou Yi's "Verifying the Millennium Letterpress Printing", etc., expounded many difficult problems in the history of letterpress printing, and made a powerful counterattack to the argument that "Korea is the ancestor of movable type printing".

Professor Xiao Dongfa, director of the Institute of Modern Publishing at Peking University, pointed out that due to the adoption of the "printing" method, South Korea's movable metal type could only print 10 pages a day at first, and after years of transformation, the "Jiayin Character", which reached the peak of Korean movable metal type printing, could only print 40 pages a day, far behind the Chinese clay type, wooden type and metal type printing technology that adopted "brush printing".

In the face of South Korea's two-hand evidence, China put forward three aspects of evidence: "movable type objects", "printed cultural relics" and "printing history".

According to the account in "Mengxi Pen Talk", later generations can completely recreate the movable type invented by Bi Sheng, and in the Qing Dynasty, Li Yao in Suzhou and Zhai Jinsheng in Jing County, Anhui Province used Bi Sheng's legacy to prove that it was feasible.

In contemporary times, the research team of Beijing Institute of Graphic Communication completed this work in 2002, and made a clear denial of the doubts of Korean scholars such as "fragile" and "often make movable type fall".

According to the description of "thin as money lips" in "Mengxi Pen Talk", the research group produced movable type with a height of 1.2 cm and a height of 0.6 cm, which were professionally tested and printed without the problem of "fragile". According to the research group, the fragility of movable type made by Korean scholars may be due to the fact that it is too thin or the firing process is not mature.

As for the Korean scholars' questioning of "often making the movable type fall", the research team according to the formula of rosin, beeswax and paper ash at that time, as long as the dosage of viscosity is reasonable, the effect of fixing and dismantling is very good, and the adhesion is not bad. The research team believes that the problem raised by the Korean scholars is actually due to the use of bad dispensing, or the adhesive used in the fixing plate is different from Bi Sheng's original method.

In addition to the "resurrection" of movable type, the unearthed cultural relics also provide strong evidence for China's four major inventions. At the beginning of the 21st century, printed copies much earlier than the Korean Jikji were discovered, and the Western Xia (1038-1227) documents found in the Shanzuigou Grottoes in Helan Mountain, Ningxia, even detailed the names of those involved in the various printing processes.

From the perspective of the history of printing development, there must be engraving printing first, and then movable type printing. Block printing originated in China and was invented as late as the Tang Dynasty.

Sun Shouling (Academic Committee Member of the Xixia Culture Research Center of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Famous Tangut Scholar in Wuwei City, and Xixia Clay Type Expert) proved that the Vimala Sutra is a printed version of the Vimala Sutra unearthed in Wuwei after years of research, and the success of this academic practice proves that the clay movable type printing technology originated in China. The controversy over movable type printing was fierce, and it led to the world's academic conferences.

Sun Shouling firmly believed in his own research and judgment, and he determined from this cultural relic unearthed in Wuwei that China was the originator of clay movable type printing.

In order to come up with more convincing evidence, he based on the record of Bi Sheng's invention of clay movable type printing in the "Mengxi Bi Tan" written by Shen Kuo, a great scientist of the Northern Song Dynasty, selected clay, made materials, engraved, fired, typeset and printed, and he used the clay stove used his own cooking stove to burn clay movable type, and for more than 1,000 days and nights, he withstood the test of failure again and again in the smoke and fire.

In the end, more than 3,000 Xixia pottery characters that are difficult to write and difficult to recognize were picked out from the ashes with cracked hands, and the book was printed by the method of completion.