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. Because Bi was a commoner, not an educated person, little is known about his life besides this invention.[1]