Inventors
Bi Sheng
c. 990–1051 · Inventor of clay movable type
Northern Song China
Four centuries before Gutenberg, Bi Sheng made individual ceramic types that could be set, printed, and redistributed. East Asian printing already had woodblocks; movable type is a different idea — letters as reusable parts. Chronotech files both Bi Sheng and Gutenberg, because the press is a family, not a single birthday.
Why it mattered
- Separated the character from the page.
- Showed interchangeable parts in a communications machine.
