Write, print and engrave in China

Papermaking • WIKIMEDIA COMMONS

Papermaking
Although the practice of writing in China is very old, it was slowed down for a long time by the use of materials such as bone, bronze or bamboo and wood tablets. Silk, better suited to writing, but very expensive, was also used from the V ^e century BC. Around the II ^th century BC. J.-C., we discover that by soaking vegetable fibers of hemp or bamboo, for example, which are then dried on a sieve, we obtain an ideal plate for writing, at the same time light, handy and of low cost. At the end of the I ^st century AD. AD, the eunuch Cai Lun improves the combination of materials and the manufacturing technique.

L Easy to use woodcut
The ancient Chinese developed several engraving processes on stelae or seals, but the most fashionable method from the 8th ^th century was xylography. The technique consisted in sticking on a wooden plate a transparent paper on which was written a text. This was used to sketch the characters which were then engraved. Then the surface of the plate was inked, and a white paper was pressed to obtain an impression.

Bi Sheng, inventor of movable type
The movable-type printing press was invented by Bi Sheng in the XI ^th century. The ceramic characters were placed in an iron frame and arranged according to pronunciation. Gutenberg will develop the same technique in Europe around 1450. In China, it was reserved for large editorial projects, due to the high number of sinograms.