History
Printing was invented by Ancient Chinese monks around 1200 years ago in the Song Dynasty. The invention of printing had immeasurably helped the monks and scholars in Ancient China. Before printing, transcribing and copying voluminous text by hand took a tremendous amount of time and effort. Besides, the poor monks' hands would get sore and cramp all the time!
Wood Block
The wood block method required enormous patience, skill, and strength. Each page had to be carved on a block of wood. It was time-consuming to produce and difficult to revise. After the carving was completed, ink was applied onto the block. The wood block was then stamped onto the paper, and the printing was done! A fresh page of printed text. You can stamp it over and over again so you can print multiple copies of the exact same text.
Movable Type
The movable type was made up of individual blocks each with a different Chinese character. Each block was carved and can be rearranged on a paper-sized hollow wooden container. Instead of carving each individual page, you could rearrange pre-made blocks and stamp them onto a page! This improved method of printing was invented by Bi Sheng in the Song Dynasty around the 11th century. He used fragile baked clay for the movable blocks. Later in the Yuan Dynasty, wooden movable blocks replaced the clay blocks. The movable type was not as widely used in Ancient China as the wood block method, as it was expensive to maintain and difficult to operate. However, the flexibility of the movable type will later revolutionized printing, and allowed Johannes Gutenberg to produce the first modern printing press in the 15th century Germany. It played a key role in the development of the Renaissance, the Scientific Revolution and laid the foundation for the spread of learning and the modern day knowledge-based economy.