History of printing in East Asia

The history of printing in East Asia starts with the use of woodblock printing on cloth during the Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD) and later paper (in Imperial Court as early as the 1st century, or around 80 AD), and continued with the invention of wooden movable type by East Asian artisans in Song China by the 11th century. Use of woodblock printing quickly spread to other East Asian countries. While the Chinese used only clay and wood movable type at first, use of metal movable type was pioneered in Korea by the 13th century. The Western-style printing press became known in East Asia by the 16th century but was not fully adopted until centuries later.