Printing is one of the four great inventions of ancient China. It has a long history and far-reaching impact. With a development process of over 5,000 years, printing is a key component of Chinese civilization.

In ancient China, there was a long history of character carving techniques. Along with the development of hand carving techniques and the invention of paper making, people invented printing in practice. Block printing, appeared in early Tang Dynasty, was the first technique put into use. To conduct block printing, one need to write the text on paper first, then stick the paper to a polished wood board, on which reverse text is carved. Then ink should be applied to the block and paper should be arranged before the press printing begins. After that, the printing is done when the paper is taken off. The carving needs great manpower and material, but once the printing begins when the carved block is finished, the advantages of high efficiency and large printing amount are evident. The Diamond Sutra currently stored in the British Library is the most exquisite work produced with block printing in the 9th year of Xiantong (868 AD) of the Tang Dynasty.   

In the Song Dynasty, the inventor of a humble origin Bi Sheng renovated the printing technique and invented movable type printing, which boosted the printing efficiency. Movable type printing has greater advantages than block printing. It greatly cuts the block making time. Moreover, the movable type can be repeatedly used. Therefore, materials are saved. And the movable type is smaller than the carved block, easy to store and keep. Wooden movable types were used in the printing of  Siku Quanshu (Complete Library in the Four Branches of Literature) in 1774 AD, during Emperor Qianlong’s reign of the Qing Dynasty. It’s called “a collected gem edition”.

After the invention of printing, it was gradually brought to other countries, giving a great boost to human civilization and social progress. In 1450, influenced by Chinese movable type printing, Gutenberg of Germany made movable letters with compound metal for book printing, causing a far-reaching impact on the development of European society.