Bi sheng biography

Chinese inventor of moveable type (972–1051)

In this Chinese name, the family name is Bi.

Bi Sheng (972–1051) was a Chinese artisan and engineer during the Song dynasty (960–1279), who invented the world's first movable type. Bi's system used fired clay tiles, one for each Chinese character, and was invented between 1039 and 1048. Printing was one of the Four Great Inventions. Because Bi was a commoner, not an educated person, little is known about his life besides this invention.

Movable type printing

Bi Sheng's invention was only recorded in the Dream Pool Essays by Chinese scholar-official and polymath Shen Kuo (1031–1095). The book provides a detailed description of the technical details of Bi Sheng's invention of movable type printing:

During the reign of Chingli慶曆 (Qìnglì), 1041–1048, Bi Sheng, a man of unofficial position, made movable type. His method was as follows: He prepared an iron plate. Then he took sticky clay and cut in its characters as thin as the edge of a coin. Each character formed, as it were, a single type. He baked them in the fire to make them hard. He had covered the plate with a mixture of pine resin, wax, and paper ashes. When he wished to print, he took an iron frame and set it on the iron plate. In this, he placed the types, set close together. When the frame was full, the whole made one solid block of type. He then placed it near the fire to warm it. When the paste [at the back] was slightly melted, he took a smooth board and pressed it over the surface, so that the block of type became as even as a whetstone.

For each character, there were several types, and for certain common characters, there were twenty or more types each, in order to be prepared for the repetition of characters on the same page. When the characters were not in use he had them arranged with paper labels, one label for each rhyme-group, and kept them in wooden cases.

During the next several centuries, movable type was seldom ment

Every educated Chinese knows the name of Bi Sheng, who invented movable-type printing, one of the four important inventions that ancient China contributed to world civilization. Bi Sheng lived in Bianliang (today's Kaifeng City), then capital of China in the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). He used movable-type blocks for printing during the reign of Qingli (1041-1048) by composing text by placing ceramic type side by side on an iron plate, resulting in pieces of movable type.

Bi Sheng's feat is described in Meng Xi Bi Tan(Dream Stream Essays) by Shen Kuo, an eminent scientist of the Song Dynasty (960-1279). Bi Sheng started making clay types, one for each character. These were fired for hardness. For typesetting a square sheet of iron was prepared with a layer of resin, wax and paper ashes mixed and spread on it. The mixture was circumscribed with an iron frame. A plate was complete when the frame was full. This was heated over a fire until the mixture melted. The types meanwhile were pressed down to the height of the frame with a wooden board and the plate was ready for printing. For higher efficiency two iron sheets were used, one for fresh typesetting and the other for printing, so that a new plate was ready before the specified number of copies had been made from the previous one. Several duplicate types were made for each character, the number depending on the frequency of its use. As for rarely used characters, they were carved and fired when necessary and used on the spot.

Bi Sheng's method had great merit in its notable speed compared with the traditional process of plate engraving. Bi Sheng's invention revolutionized the printing press and had far-reaching impact. About 400 years later, Gutenberge invented the machine to make use of movable type in Germany.

 Cai Lun

China was the first country in the world to make proper paper. Paper made during the Western Han Dynasty (260BC-8AD) has been

In this Chinese name, the family name is Bi.

Bi Sheng (Chinese: 畢昇; 972–1051 AD) was a Chinese artisan, engineer, and inventor of the world's first movable type technology, with printing being one of the Four Great Inventions. Bi Sheng's system was made of Chinese porcelain and was invented between 1039 and 1048 in the Song dynasty.

Movable type printing

Bi Sheng was born in Yingshan County, Hubei a commoner, and his ancestry and details were not recorded. He was recorded only in the Dream Pool Essays by Chinese scholar-official and polymath Shen Kuo (1031–1095). The book records a detailed description of the technical details of Bi Sheng's invention of movable type printing:

During the reign of Chingli慶曆 (Qìnglì), 1041–1048, Bi Sheng, a man of unofficial position, made movable type. His method was as follows: he took sticky clay and cut in its characters as thin as the edge of a coin. Each character formed, as it were, a single type. He baked them in the fire to make them hard. He had previously prepared an iron plate and he had covered his plate with a mixture of pine resin, wax, and paper ashes. When he wished to print, he took an iron frame and set it on the iron plate. In this, he placed the types, set close together. When the frame was full, the whole made one solid block of type. He then placed it near the fire to warm it. When the paste [at the back] was slightly melted, he took a smooth board and pressed it over the surface, so that the block of type became as even as a whetstone.

For each character, there were several types, and for certain common characters, there were twenty or more types each, in order to be prepared for the repetition of characters on the same page. When the characters were not in use he had them arranged with paper labels, one label for each rhyme-group, and kept them in wooden cases.

The government official Wang Zhen (fl. 1290–1333) i

Bi Sheng is the inventor of movable type. (PHOTO:VCG)

    By LONG Yun

    Before the invention of printers, books had to be written by hand and then duplicated by hand in order to be mass-produced. It not only took time and was laborious, but also during the process was easy to make mistakes. With the development of the movable type, everything changed.

    The Dream Pool Essays, a Chinese classic, written by Shen Kuo who was a famous scientist in Song Dynasty, contains a detailed discussion of the printing technology of Bi Sheng's invention of movable type, which changed the way printing was done in ancient China and made printing more efficient.

    According to Shen Kuo's records, Bi's invention started from creating clay types for each of the Chinese characters, which were then hardened by fire. A square iron sheet was prepared for typesetting using a layer of resin, wax, and paper ashes mixed and spread on it. An iron frame was then used to encircle the mixture. When the frame was packed, a plate was complete and the mixture was heated until it melted. Meanwhile, a wooden board was used to press the clay types down to the height of the frame, and the plate was ready for printing. Two iron sheets were employed for improved efficiency, one for new typesetting and the other for printing, so that a new plate was ready before the previous one had produced the required number of copies.

    To prepare for the repetition of characters on the same page, there were several duplicate types for each character, and there were twenty or more types for certain common characters.

    "Bi Sheng's innovation was revolutionary for his time." Shen Kuo said that the method was arduous if only a few copies of a book were to be printed, but it was extraordinarily rapid and efficient if hundreds or thousands of copies