When and by whom was movable type printing invented?

Movable type printing is an ancient printing method, which is the result of long-term practice of ancient people in China and the civilization of China. When was movable type printing invented? Shen Kuo, a famous scientist in the Northern Song Dynasty, recorded in Meng Qian Bi Tan that movable type printing was invented by Bi Sheng.

1 1 In the middle of the century, during the Northern Song Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty, Bi Sheng of China made a blank with the same specifications from clay, one end of which was engraved with traditional Chinese characters and hardened by fire, making it a single clay movable type. In order to facilitate the choice of words, the clay type is put in the wooden lattice according to rhyme. When typesetting, a framed iron plate is used as the backing, a layer of prepared medicine is coated on it, and then the required clay movable type is picked out one by one and arranged in the frame. After a frame is filled in, it becomes a version, and then it is baked with fire. After the medicine melts slightly, flatten the words with a flat plate, and after the medicine cools and solidifies, it becomes a version.

When printing, just brush the ink on the plate, cover it with paper, and add some pressure, and you can print. After printing, bake it with a torch and shake it gently, and the movable type can be separated from the iron plate. The method of printing books with cement movable type in Bi Sheng can not only save manpower and material resources, but also greatly improve the printing speed and quality.

This is the earliest invention of movable type printing. Although primitive, it improved the printing efficiency at that time. However, his invention did not get the attention of the rulers and society at that time. After Bi Sheng's death, movable type printing was still not popular.