Approximately，fromthe10thcenturytheUighurshadalreadymasteredtheblockprintingtechnologyanduseditforprintingofUighurtexts.UptothebeginningoftheMongol-Yuanynasty，printinghandicraftswaswidelyprevalentinTurpan.ItshowsthatTurpanbecamethemostimportantcenterfortheUighurculture.Itisdifficulttosaywhethermovable-typeprintingwasusedornotatthattime-Thereishoweverevidenceofmovable-typeprintingintheMogaoCavesofunhuang，whichwassituatedfarawayfromtheQocoUighurKingdomandwastheculturalcenterfortheHexiUighurs.Inthebeginningofthiscentury，PelliotexploredunhuangandfoundUighurwoodenmovabletypesinoneofthecaves，numberingninehundredsandsixty，andallwerebroughttoFrancebyhim.MostofthemarekeptatBibliothequeNat：ionale，Paris.Onlyafewwerelatertransferredtoothercountries.AmongthemonlythefourpreservedinUS.Awerepublished.Basedonhistoricalgraphicannotationsofalltheseprintingmaterials，theUighurwoodenmovable-typesfromunhuangcanbedividedintothefollowingkingds：
1)Movabletypesbasedontheunitofalphabet；2)Movable-typesbasedontheunitofword；3)Movable-typesbasedontheunitofverbstem；4)Movable-typesthatrepresentsaffix；5)Movable-typesbasedontheunitofphoneticclutersthatdonothavesemanticnorgrammaticalfunctions；6)Movabletypesthatmarksmarginallinesthepage；7)Movable-typesthatservesaspunctuation.AccordingtoPaulPelliot，allUighurmovable-typesfoundbyhimbelongedtoaround1300A.Inreality，thismustbethetimewhenthesemovabletypeswerediscardedandsealedup，buttheperiodwhentheywereengravedandusedmustbeearlierthanthis.Itisthereforenecessarytodiscussagainastotheinventorofthewoodenmovable-types-AccordingtotheChineseaccounts，movable-typeprintingwasinventedbyBiSheng毕升intheQingli庆历era(1041-1048A.)oftheNorthernSongynasty，ShenKuo沈括statedasfollows：
uringtheqingliera，anordinarymanBiShengstartedtocreateamovable-typeplate.
Inthismethodheusedclaymovable-typesvuhichareofthethicknessofcoins，eachrelatingtoonevuord，andxverehardenedbyburningthemOneironplatexvascoveredvoithamixtureofmaterialfromthepinetreeandpaperash，Forprinting，anironmodelwasplacedontheironplateandtheironmodelwasfullycoveredbythemovable-typesWhentheironlyiodelisfullycovered，aplateisformedvuhichisthenbakedvuiththemixturemeltingslightlyThenthesurfaceofaplainplateispressedonthetypeplate，Afterdrying，movable-typesontheboardbecomeclearThismethodisnotasimpleoneifonlytwoorthreecopiesareprintedHowever，ifhundredsorthousandsofcopiesaretobemade，thismethodseemsveryconvenientThereasonwhyxvoodvuasnotusedisbecauseithasadifferenttextureIfuxiterisaddedtheboardsurfacebecameroughlyThemixturezvillthensticktotheboard，ifso，themovable-typescannotberemovaiThelastsentenceinquotationisveryimportantItsuggeststhatatthattimeBiShenghadtriedtomakemovable-typesfromwoodbuthiswoodentypesweresothinthattheyeasilychangedtheirsharpswhenmixedwithwater.Moreover，theycouldeasilybemadetosticktothemixtureandcouldnotberemoved-Tlierefore，hiswoodenmovable-typeswerenotused.Generally，WangZhenisconsideredtobethefirstpersonwhousedthewoodenmovable-typestoprintbooksinthe13thcentury.WangZhen王械recordedhismethodasfollows：
Atpresentamoreskilledandconvenientmethodiscreated.Inthismethod，firstworkismakinguuoodenboardsandusingbamboopiecestoformsquaresontheseboardsinwhichcharactersareengraved，thencuttingthesewoodenboardsintosquaredpiecesvuithasmaUsaxvOnepieceudUformonemovable-type，andthentosmoothenthesidesofthesemovable-typeswithasmallknifeandmakethemofuniformsize，andthentoarrangetheminraws，tofillthegapbetweentherxnvswithflatbambooAftertheprintboardisfilledbymovable-types，ituuillbefhcedivithxvoodshavingssothatthemovable-typesdonotmoveandprintingcanbedonexvithChineseinkWangZhensummeduptheexperienceandlessonofBiShengandchangedthewoodenmovabletypesfromthinpiecestosquareones，andeliminatedthetroublemetbyBiieng.FromthehistoricalrecordswhenhewasanofficialofJingde旌德CountyinAnhuiProvince，hewrotehisNong-shu农书，becausethisbookwasvoluminousandthereforedifficulttopublish，heinventedthisnewmethodofpublishing.Heaskedthecarpenterstomakeabout30，000woodenmovable-t}pesintwoyearsOriginallyfhehopedtopublishhisNong-shufwiththesemovable-types，butlaterhewasappointedasanofficialinJiangxiProvinceandhisbook，nevertheless，waspublishedbyblockprintingthereHissetofmovable-typeswasusedonlytopublisha-de-jing-de-xian-zhieditedbyhiminthesecondyearofthatera(1298A.).11Afterthis，hedidnotusethemagain.In1322A，MaChengde马称德，aprefecturegovernorofFeng-hua奉化inZhejiangProvinceusedthemethodofmovable-typeprintingtopublishla-xue-yan-yi大学衍义etc-12ItshouldhavebeenonlyafterthisperiodthatthismethodspreadtootherregionsespeciallytonorthernChina.ItcanthereforebesaidthatthecreationoftheabovementionedUighurwoodenmovable-typescannotbelaterthanWangZhensUnfortunately，thisfacthasnotattractedtheattentionoftheacademicworld.Forexample，printingexpertZhangXiuminstatesinthesamearticle：Thewoodenmovable-typeswerenotonlyusedincentralplainsofChina，butwerealsousedinareasinhabitedbyminoritynationalities.TheUighurwoodenmovable-typeswereoncefoundintheMogaoCavesofunhuang.Theyallweremadeofhardwood.Thewoodwascutintopiecesofdifferentsizesbysaw.13TheviewgetssupportfromChengSuluowhodealswithitinamoredetailedmannerinthiswork：