Four Great Inventions-Printing(3)Movable Type Printing'

Movable Type Printing活字印刷术：one of the four great inventions in China. Shen Kuo or Shen Kua (Chinese: 沈括; pinyin: Shěn Kuò) (1031--1095) was a polymathic Chinese scientist and statesman of the Song Dynasty (960--1279). Excelling in many fields of study and statecraft, he was a mathematician, astronomer, meteorologist, geologist, zoologist, botanist, pharmacologist, agronomist, ethnographer, cartographer, encyclopedist, poet, general, diplomat, hydraulic engineer, inventor, academy chancellor, finance minister, and governmental state inspector. He was the head official for the Bureau of Astronomy in the Song court, as well as an Assistant Minister of Imperial Hospitality.[1] At court his political allegiance was to the Reformist faction known as the New Policies Group, headed by Chancellor Wang Anshi (王安石; 1021--1086). In his Dream Pool Essays (夢溪筆談; Mengxi Bitan) of 1088, Shen was the first to describe the magnetic needle compass, which would be used for navigation (first described in Europe by Alexander Neckam in 1187).Shen also discovered the concept of true north in terms of magnetic declination towards the north pole,with experimentation of suspended magnetic needles and "the improved meridian determined by Shen's [astronomical] measurement of the distance between the polestar and true north".This was the decisive step in human history to make compasses more useful for navigation, and was a concept unknown in Europe for another four hundred years. Alongside his colleague Wei Pu (衛朴), Shen accurately mapped the orbital paths of the moon and the planets, in an intensive five-year project that rivaled the later work of the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe (1546--1601).To aid his work in astronomy, Shen Kuo made improved designs of the armillary sphere, gnomon, sighting tube, and invented a new type of inflow water clock. Shen Kuo devised a geological theory of land formation, or geomorphology, based upon findings of inland marine fossils, knowledge of soil erosion, and the deposition of silt.He also proposed a theory of gradual climate change, after observing ancient petrified bamboos that were preserved underground in a dry northern habitat that would not support bamboo growth in his time. He was the first literary figure in China to mention the use of the drydock to repair boats suspended out of water, and also wrote of the effectiveness of the relatively new invention of the canal pound lock. Although Ibn al-Haytham was the first to describe camera obscura, Shen Kuo was the first in China to do so, several decades later. Shen Kuo wrote extensively about movable type printing invented by Bi Sheng (畢昇; 990--1051), and because of his written works the legacy of Bi Sheng and the modern understanding of the earliest movable type has been handed down to later generations. Shen Kuo wrote several other books besides the Dream Pool Essays, yet much of the writing in his other books have not survived. Some of Shen's poetry was preserved in posthumous written works. Although much of his focus was on technical and scientific issues, he had an interest in divination and the supernatural. He also wrote commentary on ancient Daoist and Confucian texts. Bì Shēng (traditional Chinese: 畢昇; simplified Chinese: 毕升; Wade-Giles: Pì Shēng; 990-1051 AD) was the inventor of the first known movable type printing system. Bi Sheng's type was made of baked clay and was invented between 1041 and 1048 in China. ----------------------- ------------------------- A Related Brief Chinese Chronology中国历史年代简表 V,Han Dynasty汉朝(206 B.C.-220) 1,Western han西汉(206 B.C.-24) 2,Eastern Han东汉(25-220) VI,Three Kingdoms三国(220-280) VII,Western Jin Dynasty西晋(265-316) VIII，Eastern Jin Dynasty东晋(3170420) IX,Northern and Southern Dynasties南北朝 X,Sui Dynasty隋朝(581-618) XI,Tang Dynasty唐朝(618-907) XII,Five Dynasties五代 XIII，Song Dynasty宋朝 1,Northern Song Dynasty北宋(960-1127) 2,Southern Song Dynasty南宋(1127-1279) XIV,Yuan Dynasty元朝(1271-1368) XV,Ming Dynasty明朝(1368-1644) XVI,Qing Dynasty清朝(1644-1911)

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