A commoner named Pi Sheng is credited with the invention of the first blocks of movable type in China during the Ch'ing-li period . Each Chinese character was carved onto a small block of moistened clay and then baked to preserve the characters. To print pages, all the characters (all of which required several pieces of type to form) were arranged on an iron plate with a band around the plate to keep the type pieces in place. This image is sourced from Wikimedia Commons and is public domain.