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Re:Gutenberg’s moving type propelled Europe towards the scie... by zachguo on Sunday April 07, 2019 @05:02AM (#19595670)
Because it's much cheaper to build a printing machine for alphabets. Cheap transmission of information caused a grassroot intellectual explosion, i.e. the Enlightenment. While in China only the ruling class could afford a printing machine for tens of thousands of characters.
Re:Gutenberg’s moving type propelled Europe towards the scie... by thaumasiotes on Sunday April 07, 2019 @07:22AM (#19596127)
Huh? In China they just didn't bother with movable type. They printed everything, using wood block printing. (Instead of assembling each page from sorts, carve each page into the surface of a wooden block.) The press looks exactly the same.