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INVENTOR

Bi Sheng

990 - 1052

Photo of Bi Sheng

Icon of person Bi Sheng

Bi Sheng (Chinese: 畢昇; 972–1051 AD) was a Song dynasty Chinese artisan, engineer, and inventor of the world's first movable type technology. Bi Sheng's system used fired clay tiles, one for each Chinese character,and was invented between 1039 and 1048. Printing was one of the Four Great Inventions. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Bi Sheng has received more than 209,933 page views. His biography is available in 27 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 25 in 2019). Bi Sheng is the 84th most popular inventor, the 228th most popular biography from China (down from 227th in 2019) and the 3rd most popular Chinese Inventor.

Bi sheng is most famous for the use of the "baozi" which is a dough-based food that is usually filled with meat, vegetables, or sweet beans.

Memorability Metrics

  • 210k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 62.41

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 27

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 7.80

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 1.99

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Page views of Bi Shengs by language


Among INVENTORS

Among inventors, Bi Sheng ranks 84 out of 354. Before him are André-Jacques Garnerin, Claude Chappe, Henry Bessemer, Momofuku Ando, Ray Tomlinson, and Sakichi Toyoda. After him are Franz Reichelt, Alois Senefelder, John Harrison, Alphonse Bertillon, Cornelis Drebbel, and Daniel Swarovski.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 990, Bi Sheng ranks 6. Before him are Lady Godiva, Tughril, Conrad II, Holy Roman Emperor, Pope Nicholas II, and Sancho III of Pamplona. After him are Mieszko II Lambert, Gisela of Swabia, Samuel Aba, Jovan Vladimir, Stefan Vojislav, and Hilarion of Kiev. Among people deceased in 1052, Bi Sheng ranks 2. Before him is Emma of Normandy. After him are Fan Zhongyan, Boniface III, Margrave of Tuscany, Vladimir of Novgorod, and Guaimar IV of Salerno.

Others Born in 990

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Others Deceased in 1052

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In China

Among people born in China, Bi Sheng ranks 228 out of 1,392. Before him are Ching Shih (1775), Abaoji (872), Wang Yangming (1472), Zhang Zuolin (1875), Zhang Sanfeng (1200), and Emperor Yuan of Han (-75). After him are Ban Gu (32), Empress Wanrong (1906), Zhao Bing (1271), Pujie (1907), Di Renjie (630), and Guo Jia (170).

Others born in China

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Among INVENTORS In China

Among inventors born in China, Bi Sheng ranks 3. Before him are Cai Lun (48) and Charles K. Kao (1933). After him are Taiichi Ohno (1912), Yuan Longping (1930), Thonmi Sambhota (618), An Wang (1920), and Robin Li (1968).

Chinese born Inventors

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