What scene is China movable type printing used in? What role did it play in the history of ancient printing in China?

At the moment when 3D printing technology is in full swing, Wenzhou University's 2020 admission notice is printed with wooden movable type, which stands out among all kinds of college admission notices, full of creativity and sincerity. Producer Wu Kuizhao (non-hereditary inheritor of movable type woodblock printing in Ruian Dongyuan) admitted that he put movable type woodblock on the admission notice for the first time in 48 years in order to "let the people of the whole country know that movable type woodblock printing technology is still alive in Ruian".

Ruian Dongyuan wood movable type printing survived because of the strong demand for local printed genealogy. China's genealogy originated quite early. It is an important basis for the family to recognize their ancestors, such as the genealogy of the family, the genealogy of the clan, and various genealogies such as the external and collateral lines of the clan. Compared with the word-of-mouth "Grandpa's Grandpa's Grandpa's Story", writing it down or even printing it into a book strengthens ethnic memory and adds a bit of solemnity.

Due to the small number and frequent changes of genealogy printing, many ancient genealogies were printed with movable type, which promoted the prevalence of genealogy, and even craftsmen (that is, genealogists) appeared. They carried movable type on their shoulders and moved around to make genealogies. According to the genealogy records of Wang Chaohui, the national inheritor of movable type printing in Dongyuan, Rui 'an, as early as the beginning of14th century, more than 20 years after Wang Zhen improved movable type printing, his ancestor Wang Famao compiled a genealogy for Anxi people in Fujian, which coincided with the rise of movable type printing and the popularization of folk music editing.

During Zheng De's reign in Ming Dynasty, Wang Famao's descendant Wang Sixun and his five brothers moved from Anxi, Fujian to xiang yuan, Pingyang, Zhejiang. In the first year of Qing Qianlong (1736), Wang Sixun's fourth generation Sun Wang led his descendants from Pingyang xiang yuan to Dongyuan, Ruian, where they "settled down" their ancestral wooden movable type printing technology. They opened the "Wang Printing Factory" in Ruian area and printed many books. Wang's "Ji Zi" skill of making a living has been passed down from generation to generation through family ties. Only with the popularization of computer printing, the number of movable type printing practitioners has dropped sharply, and there are few inheritors.

20 10, more than 900 years after the invention of movable type printing in Bi Sheng, "China wooden movable type printing" with Ryan dongyuan village as the main application has become UNESCO's "intangible cultural heritage in urgent need of protection", which makes people sad. Besides typesetting genealogy, what other scenes are China movable type printing used in? What role did it play in the history of ancient printing in China? .