LEFT: This photo taken by Xinhua photographer Xiao Yijiu on April 2, 2025 shows a statue of Bi Sheng at the Bi Sheng Memorial Hall in Yingshan County, central China's Hubei Province; RIGHT: This photo taken by Xinhua photographer Zhang Fan on April 7, 2025 shows a statue of Johannes Gutenberg in Mainz, Germany. (Xinhua)
WUHAN, April 25 (Xinhua) -- In a workshop in Yingshan County, central China, German scholar Fabian Schrodt carefully pressed paper onto inked clay blocks, recreating an 11th-century innovation from ancient China -- Bi Sheng's movable-type printing.
"Although his methods cannot match today's digital efficiency, they nonetheless revealed the brilliance of modular design long before standardized manufacturing came into existence," said Schrodt, a Wuhan University professor, as characters from a Chinese poem emerged on the page.
German scholar Fabian Schrodt ® experiences and recreates Bi Sheng's movable-type printing at the Bi Sheng Memorial Hall in Yingshan County, central China's Hubei Province, April 2, 2025. (Xinhua/Xiao Yijiu)
His hands-on experience at the Bi Sheng Memorial Hall brought to life the ingenuity of the Song Dynasty inventor, whose clay-type system predated German printer Johannes Gutenberg's metal press by 400 years.
Thousands of miles away in Mainz, Germany, visitors to the Gutenberg Museum have also encountered a similar sense of historic innovation.
ABOVE: This photo taken by Xinhua photographer Xiao Yijiu on April 2, 2025 shows the Bi Sheng Memorial Hall in Yingshan County, central China's Hubei Province; BELOW: This photo taken by Xinhua photographer Zhang Fan on March 21, 2025 shows an exterior view of the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany. (Xinhua)
According to Lin Chunjie, director of German language department at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Bi's invention was the earliest recorded movable type printing in human history. "The technology spread westward along the Silk Road, and about 400 years later, Gutenberg created metal movable type printing," Lin added.
Gutenberg's version, with its metallurgical refinements and oil-based ink, had an enormous impact on European media.
Christoph Suender, Print Shop Workshop Manager of the Gutenberg Museum, showcases the Gutenberg printing technique in Mainz, Germany, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)
A staff member of a Chinese company introduces a product to a French visitor at Drupa, an international exhibition in the printing industry, in Dusseldorf, Germany, May 31, 2024. (Xinhua/Du Zheyu)
Centuries later, China is once again shaping the future of printing. At the Drupa Exhibition 2024, the latest edition of the world's premier printing expo held every four years, over 400 Chinese firms participated, nearly double the tally of the previous edition, making China the top exhibitor, ahead of Germany.
"Today, China remains at the forefront in multiple fields, including digital printing and post-press processing," said Marius Berlemann, regional head of Messe Dusseldorf for Asia. Messe Dusseldorf is the organizer of Drupa.
People attend the “Bi Sheng Forum for Cooperation in the Printing Industry – Drupa Dialogue” in Dusseldorf, Germany, May 31, 2024. (Xinhua/Du Zheyu)
This photo taken on March 21, 2025 shows a card bearing the Chinese pinyin phrase “Ni Hao, Huan Ying!” (meaning “Hello, welcome!“) printed through German printer Johannes Gutenberg's printing technique in Mainz, Germany, March 21, 2025. (Xinhua/Zhang Fan)
ABOVE: This photo taken by Xinhua photographer Xiao Yijiu on April 2, 2025 shows inked clay blocks exhibited at the Bi Sheng Memorial Hall in Yingshan County, central China's Hubei Province; BELOW: This photo taken by Xinhua photographer Zhang Fan on March 21, 2025 shows traditional Gutenberg printing blocks at the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany. (Xinhua)■
