Xiao Shihua prepares to print using the ancient movable type in Zhulin Village, Tantou Town of central China's Hunan Province. /Xinhua Photo

46-year-old Xiao studied movable type printing under the guidance of his father in his teens. The woodblock movable type printing of Tantou Town began its flourish period in Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD) in the use of printing pedigree and farming issues. /Xinhua Photo

Compared with the Gutenberg press using woodblock, the original Chinese movable type  was made of ceramic materials and developed the first known movable-type system for printing in China around 1040 AD. /Xinhua Photo

Xiao tries to make an old tradition alive as the movable-type printing significantly faded away with the development of computer and offset printing. /Xinhua Photo