Person

Bi Sheng

d. 1051 · 11th century

Bi Sheng was a Chinese artisan of the Song Dynasty credited with inventing movable type printing using ceramic characters around 1040 CE. His method is recorded in the writings of the scholar Shen Kuo. The invention predated Gutenberg's press by about four centuries and is counted among the major technological achievements of Song China.

Bi Sheng
Image: Popolon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

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Song DynastyImpact

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Cite this entry
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Bi Sheng. In The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bi-sheng
MLA
“Bi Sheng.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bi-sheng. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Bi Sheng.” The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bi-sheng.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Bi Sheng’, The Epoch Institute Encyclopedia. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/encyclopedia/bi-sheng (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random entry ↻