At the beginning, the engraved block printing possibly was only popular among ordinary people. The printed books included Confucian classics, Buddhist scriptures, dictionaries, and mathematics as well other kinds. The technique was advanced very fast. By the year 1000, paged books in the modern style had replaced scrolls.
The printing industry really developed in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) when publishing became a new trade in China. During the earlyNorthern Song Dynasty(960-1127), the Buddhist Tripitaka (Canon) was printed inChengduof Southwest China'sSichuan Provincefrom 130,000 engraved blocks. The Imperial Academy made more than 100,000 engraved blocks to print sutra (Buddhist literature) and history books. There are about 700 extant Song block-printed books, neatly engraved and exquisitely printed, that are considered rare books in China.
Movable Type Printing
Block printing was a costly and time-consuming process, for each carved block could only be used for a specific page of a particular book; besides, a single carving mistake could ruin the whole block. However, movable type printing changed all of that.
In the Song Dynasty (960-1279), a man named Bi Sheng carved individual characters on identical pieces of fine clay. Each movable type had on it one Chinese character which was carved in relief on a small block of moistened clay. After the block had been hardened by fire, the type became hard and durable and could be used anytime and anywhere. The movable type pieces could be glued to an iron plate and easily detached from the plate. Characters could be assembled to print a page and then broken up and redistributed as needed. When the printing was finished, the pieces could be put away for future use.
Movable type printing developed very fast. This technology then spread to Korea, Japan, Vietnam, and Europe, while based on clay type, type made of wood, lead, tin, and copper gradually appeared. Johann Gutenberg of Germany invented movable type printing made of metal in the 1440s.
The Spread of Printing Technology
China invented the printing technology, and then it spread to many countries. Japan was the first country to develop the printing technology after China. In the year 8, Japan began to use engraved block printing to publish Buddhist literature. Graved block printing also spread to North Korea and some countries in Central Asia, with Persia becoming the stopover station between China and western countries.
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