The First Movable Type Printer

        The first movable type printer was made in China in the 11th century of the Song Dynasty.  A man named Bi Sheng created a way to put different chinese characters on identical pieces of fine clay. In order to print, he select the block of the clay to place in an iron frame, then the harden clay could be used anytime and anywhere as the movable type pieces. To print, he glued the movable type pieces with different chinese characters together to print a page. The pieces would go on a iron frame which could be reused for a long time. 

        With the invention of movable type, it lowered the cost of printing because printers did not need to create a new set of woodblocks for every item they printed. It helped chinese have an easier way to learn. Until now people worldwide have been using movable type to print all items.

 Bibliography

www.bcps.org/.../lis/models/chinahist/song.html

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