Shen Kuo, a great scientist in the eleventh century, mentioned the invention of movable-type printing in his book, Dream Pool Essays (1086). He wrote:

As late as the Tang dynasty the production of books by block printing was still practiced on a limited scale. It was not until the time of the Later Tang (923-936) that the government, upon the recommendation of its prime minister Feng Tao, first sponsored the reproduction of the Five Classics by block printing. From then on practically all important books were produced by block printing.

During the Ch'ing-li period (1041-1048) a commoner named Pi Sheng first invented the movable type. Each type was made of moistened clay upon which was carved one Chinese character. The portion that formed the character was as thin as the edge of a small coin. The type was then hardened by fire and...