During the Song Dynasty, the world's leading scientific and technological achievements include:

1. Bi Sheng of the Northern Song Dynasty invented movable type printing. Four hundred years earlier than Europe.

2. Compasses and gunpowder have made breakthrough progress and are widely used in the navigation industry and military.

3. Shen Kuoruo of the Northern Song Dynasty wrote the book "Mengxi Bi Tan", which recorded many ancient scientific and technological achievements.

Extended information

The economic prosperity of the Song Dynasty was unprecedented, with major developments in agriculture, printing, papermaking, silk weaving, and porcelain making. The navigation and shipbuilding industries have made outstanding achievements, and overseas trade has developed. It trades with more than 50 countries in the South Pacific, the Middle East, Africa, Europe and other regions. The Song Dynasty's large-scale development of the south promoted the economic center to move southward.

Papermaking

During the Song Dynasty, the main papermaking materials included silk, bamboo, rattan, hemp, wheat straw, etc. Chongqing, Sichuan, Anhui and Zhejiang are the main paper producing areas. The cloth paper, cold gold paper, hemp paper, and bamboo paper in Chongqing and Sichuan areas, the Ningshuang, Chengxin paper, and millet paper in Anhui, and the rattan paper in Zhejiang are all world-famous. There are even paper quilts, paper clothes, paper armors, etc.

The mass production of paper and movable type printing provided the basis for the prosperity of the printing industry. The printing industry in the Song Dynasty was divided into three major systems. The books engraved by the Guozijian in the official engraving system were called prison editions, while the books engraved by private bookstores were called workshop editions. The books engraved by gentry families themselves belonged to the private engraving system. Tokyo, Lin'an, Meishan, Jianyang, Guangdu, etc. were all printing industry centers at that time.

At that time, Zhejiang was the best in the book engraving, and it was called the Zhejiang version, followed by Sichuan, which was called the Shu version. The carved books in Fujian are known for their quantity and are called Jianben. Among them, the ones from Masa Town in Jianyang are the most numerous and are known as the Mashaben in the world. Engraving books is a popular trend in society. Among them, the books engraved by Lin'an Imperial College are of the best quality. The engravings of the Song Dynasty are famous for their fine paper and ink, sparse layout, round fonts, exquisite workmanship, rare handed down, and priceless value.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Song Dynasty