Pì Shēng (Wade-Giles selling) (Traditional Chinese: 畢昇; Simplified Chinese: 毕升; pinyin: Bì Shēng; died 1052) was the inventor of the first know movable type printing system. Bi Sheng's type was made of baked clay and was invented between 1041 and 1048 in China. Traditional Chinese characters are one of two standard sets of printed Chinese characters. ... Simplified Chinese characters (Simplified Chinese: 简体字; Traditional Chinese: 簡體字; pinyin: jiÇŽntǐzì; also Simplified Chinese: 简化字; Traditional Chinese: 簡化字; pinyin: jiÇŽnhuàzì) are one of two standard character sets of printed contemporary Chinese written language. ... Pinyin is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard Mandarin, where pin means spell and yin means sound. The most common variant of pinyin in use is called Hanyu Pinyin (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n), also known as scheme... Events Births Milarepa Deaths Heads of state Holy See - Leo IX pope (1049-1054) Categories: 1052 ... Movable type. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Events December 10 - Empress Zoe of Byzantium elevates her adoptive son to the throne of the Eastern Roman Empire as Michael V. Revolt at Worcester against the naval taxes of Harthacanute. ... Events The city of Oslo is founded by Harald Hardråde of Norway. ...

Bi Sheng was a commoner and his ancestry and details were not recorded. He was recorded only in the Writings Beside the Meng Creek (夢溪筆談 Mengxi Bitan) by Chinese scholar Shen Kuo (沈括) (1031–1095). Writings Beside the Meng Creek, however, gave detailed and sufficient description on the technical details of Bi Sheng's invention of movable type: Shen Kuo (沈括) (1033 – 1097) was a noted Chinese scientist. ...

When he wished to print, he took an iron frame and set it on the iron plate. In this he placed the types, set close together. When the frame was full, the whole made one solid block of type. He then placed it near the fire to warm it. When the paste [at the back] was slightly melted, he took a smooth board and pressed it over the surface, so that the block of type became as even as a whetstone.

For each character there were several types, and for certain common characters there were twenty or more types each, in order to be prepared for the repetition of characters on the same page. When the characters were not in use he had them arranged with paper labels, one label for each rhyme-group, and kept them in wooden cases.^[1]

However, Bi Sheng's fragile clay types were not practical for large-scale printing.^[2] Clay types also have the additional handicap of lacking adhesion to the ink. Wang Zhen improved Bi Sheng's fragile clay types by creating movable types out of wood. Wáng Zhēn (王禎), first Ming eunuch with power in the court; see Battle of Tumu Fortress. ...