"Heavenly Creations" has great scientific value. How was it printed more than 300 years ago?

Song Ying Xing was a famous scientist in the late Ming Dynasty. His masterpiece "Heavenly Creations" is illustrated with pictures and texts, which records in detail the types, producing areas, planting and processing of various crops and handicraft raw materials, as well as handicraft production technology, and provides a large number of accurate data, and is known as the science and technology encyclopedia of China in the17th century. Wu Kai in the Heavenly Palace has been translated into Japanese, English, German, French, Italian, Russian and other languages, which has had a certain impact on the trend of world science and technology changing from ancient medieval tradition to modern science and technology.

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, some scientists attached importance to experiments and applied mathematical methods, and began to show some characteristics of modern scientific research. However, on the whole, the science and technology in Ming and Qing Dynasties was far less than that in modern western countries. In particular, the Qing dynasty practiced cultural autocracy and closed its doors to the outside world, which widened the gap between Chinese and western science and technology.

Ancient printing includes block printing and movable type printing. In the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties, block printing technology has been used to print Confucian classics. Due to the respect of Confucian classics, it has become a teaching material for imperial examinations, which has a wide range of social needs, but it is difficult to engrave classics. Ban Ben? It can be printed repeatedly, which makes the engraving printing technology popularized and continued. Based on the practical experience of block printing in past dynasties, Song Renzong Bi Sheng invented movable type printing in Qing Dynasty, which greatly promoted the publication and dissemination of books. Movable type printing, including wood type, tin type, copper type, etc. , still using manual operation. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, due to the introduction of western mechanical printing technology, the traditional printing technology in China was gradually replaced.

Movable type printing Block printing is indeed a great creation, but it also has some inconveniences: it takes time and effort to print a book once, and it is also impossible to print a large number of books quickly. Once the book is not reprinted, no matter how well carved the board is, it is completely useless. This is the earliest invention of movable type printing. This type of clay is called clay type. Compared with today's printing method, the book invented by Bi Sheng is very primitive, but the three main steps of movable type printing-making movable type, typesetting and printing-are already available. Shen Kuo, a famous scientist in the Northern Song Dynasty, recorded the movable type printing invented by Bi Sheng in Meng Qian Bi Tan. Bi Sheng invented movable type printing, which improved the printing efficiency. However, his invention did not get the attention of the rulers and society at that time. After his death, movable type printing was still not popular. The clay movable type he created did not survive, but the movable type printing technology he invented survived.