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Song Dynasty artisan Bi Sheng crafted individual ceramic character tiles around 1040 CE. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

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Bi Sheng invented clay movable type printing in China

Song Dynasty artisan Bi Sheng crafted individual ceramic character tiles around 1040 CE

Around 1040 CE during the Song Dynasty, Chinese inventor Bi Sheng developed movable type using baked clay characters set in an iron frame with resin. This modular approach allowed individual characters to be reused repeatedly, laying the foundation for movable type typography centuries before its arrival in Europe.

Where this comes from

Encyclopaedia Britannica

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Tags: china, printing, song dynasty

Bi Sheng invented clay movable type printing in China: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Song Dynasty artisan Bi Sheng crafted individual ceramic character tiles around 1040 CE. The figure is taken from Encyclopaedia Britannica, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a history fact?: Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 1,090 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.