Written Language
The ancient Chinese contributed to the written language by creating characters and symbols. One of the first written languages in history was recorded in ancient China! The Chinese had invented the printing press by carving reverse characters and symbols in a single wooden block which could be pressed in ink to make many copies of print on cloth. This made sharing knowledge easy, because people wouldn't have to write many copies of print by hand.
Over time, the Chinese discovered carving each individual character and symbol on different wooden blocks to make moveable type print. This made it easier to print writing, because people would only have to move the individual characters and symbols rather than recreate an entire wooden block for a document.
In later years, printing would be made on paper scrolls and metal moveable type blocks would replace wood type blocks. Eventually, the rest of the world began printing, just like how we print books and newspapers today!
In the the photograph below is a page from The Diamond Sutra, one of the oldest dated printed books from ancient China.
Over time, the Chinese discovered carving each individual character and symbol on different wooden blocks to make moveable type print. This made it easier to print writing, because people would only have to move the individual characters and symbols rather than recreate an entire wooden block for a document.
In later years, printing would be made on paper scrolls and metal moveable type blocks would replace wood type blocks. Eventually, the rest of the world began printing, just like how we print books and newspapers today!
In the the photograph below is a page from The Diamond Sutra, one of the oldest dated printed books from ancient China.
The photograph below shows an example of how moveable type printing was done in ancient China. The ancient Chinese would first put the blocks in order. Next, they would brush the character and symbol blocks with ink. Last, they would press the paper on the blocks to publish the print!
Take a look here to see how printing wood blocks were carved in ancient China!