tyle of the composition or for the calligraphic excellence of the
script, came very much into vogue with scholars and collectors. It is
also from about the same date that the idea of multiplying on paper
impressions taken from wooden blocks seems to have arisen, chiefly in
connexion with religious pictures and prayers. The process was not
widely applied to the production of books until the 10th century, when
in A.D. 932 the Confucian Canon was printed for the first time. In 981
orders were issued for the _T'ai P'ing Kuang Chi_, an encyclopaedia
extending to many volumes (see above) to be cut on blocks for printing.
Movable types of baked clay are said to have been invented by an
alchemist, named Pi Sheng, about A.D. 1043; and under the Ming dynasty,
1368-1644, these were made first of wood, and later of copper or lead,
but movable types have never gained the favour accorded to
block-printing, by means of which most of China's great typographical
triumphs have been achieved. The process is, and always has been, the
same all over China. Two consecutive pages of a book, separated by a
column containing the title, number of section, and number of leaf, are
written out and pasted face downwards on a block of wood (_Lindera
tz[)u]-mu_, Hemsl.). This paper, where not written upon, is cut away
with sharp tools, leaving the characters in relief, and of course
backwards, as in the case of European type. The block is then inked, and
an impression is taken off, on one side of the paper only. This sheet is
then folded down the middle of the separating column above mentioned, so
that the blank halves come together, leaving two pages of printed matter
outside; and when enough sheets have been brought together, they are
stabbed at the open ends and form a volume, to be further wrapped in
paper or pasteboard, and labelled with title, &c. It is almost
superfluous to say that the pages of a Chinese book must not be cut.
There is nothing inside, and, moreover, the column bearing the title and
leaf-number would be cut through. The Chinese newspapers of modern times
are all printed from movable types, an ordinary fount consisting of
about six to seven thousand characters.

See J. Legge, _The Chinese Classics_ (1861-1872); A. Wylie, _Notes on
Chinese Literature_ (1867); E. Chavannes, _Memoires historiques_
(1895-1905); H.A. Giles, _Chuang Tz[)u]_ (1889), _A Chinese
Biographical Dictionary_ (1898), and _A History of Chinese Literature_