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Primary School Language, Vol. 6, Human-Taught Edition, 1998
Background
Portrait of Bi Sheng
Bi Sheng (c. 970 - 1051), the great inventor of ancient China. A native of Zhihe Township, Pushui County, Huainan Road, Northern Song Dynasty (present-day Wuguidun Village, Caopandi Town, Yingshan County, Hubei Province). His invention of movable type printing, along with the compass, gunpowder, and papermaking, is known as the four great inventions of ancient China. Movable type printing has the advantages of one word multi-purpose, reuse, printing more and faster, saving time and effort, saving materials, etc., which is more economical and convenient than full-page engraving, and is a qualitative leap in the history of printing technology, which has a huge and far-reaching impact on the progress of printing technology and even world civilization in later generations. From the thirteenth to the nineteenth century, Bi Sheng invented movable type printing technology that spread all over the world.
During the Song Qing calendar (1041-1048), Bi Sheng invented the clay movable type printing technology according to practical experience, that is, engraving words on the clay sheet, printing word by word, and after being burned hard, it became movable type. The clay movable type and wooden movable type typesetting he created and invented is a fundamental reform in the development of Chinese printing, a scientific summary of the long-term practical experience of the working people of China, and a great contribution to the cultural exchanges between China and other countries in the world. Prior to this, there were only imitation printing, rubbing and engraving plate printing, which were cumbersome, laborious and time-consuming, not only inconvenient to store, but also had typos and were not easy to correct. The movable type printing method invented by Bi Sheng is both simple and flexible, as well as convenient and lightweight. Unfortunately, this technology was not promoted in time, and Bi Sheng died. His handwriting is collected by Shen Kuo's family, and his deeds are found in Shen Kuo's "Mengxi Pen Talk".