Wang Zhen

Wang Jun was born during the Yuan Dynasty of China in 1271 AD. He became a government official and saw a need to advance the future of agriculture in China by documenting and publishing the many technical innovations he saw there. The oppression and economic challenges from the Yuan Dynasty era had made life difficult for many people, and Wang Jun saw a need to alleviate poverty by spreading the knowledge. To achieve his ambition, an effective printing method would be needed to print not just a few copies, but thousands of copies of an extensive manual, not only for the workers, but for local officials who could then guide their people. The book, the Nongshu, or the Book of Farming, was a highly illustrated agricultural bible full of da Vinci-like drawings that would be used throughout China to instruct farmers and facilitate knowledge transfer. The book was published in 1313 AD and had 800 pages and 100,000 words. Wang Jun's primary innovation was a system that improved the speed and efficiency of typesetting. This is the earliest recorded history of typesetting equipment. It had rotary tables with a diameter of about seven feet, mounted on an axle about three feet high, so it could rotate freely to help typesetters quickly sort and process thousands of carved wooden blocks for use in a printing press. This mass-produced book and the ensuing industry of printing would be part of the driving force for the growth of the paper industry internationally. Wang Jun explored several approaches, but determined that wooden block movable type would be most effective, since the many unique Chinese characters that would be needed could quickly be hand-carved. His work with wooden movable type was primarily conducted in the years 1297 or 1298. Though not the inventor of movable type itself, he created the first mass-produced book. Its illustrations show a dizzying array of technology, such as water wheels, water-powered bellows, pumps, gears, pulleys, the blast furnace, and other inventions that were long attributed to later European inventors. One American author even argues that copies of the Nangshu arriving in Italy may have inspired Da Vinci and sparked the Italian Renaissance, though that is highly controversial. Nonetheless, there is little doubt that Wang Jun's accomplishment should also be recognized with that of Gutenberg and other giants of innovation. Gutenberg has been recognized as one of the greatest inventors of all time for the monumental impact he had. His printed Bible has often been called the world's first substantial mass-produced book printed with movable type. That achievement came in 1455, just 142 years after the world's actual first mass-produced book printed with movable type, by the long-neglected inventor and government official, Wang Jun. Wang Jun died in 1368.