Deaths on May 21

Feng Dao, Chinese prince and chancellor (b. 882)

Feng Dao (traditional Chinese: 馮道; simplified Chinese: 冯道; Wade–Giles: Feng Tao) (882-May 21, 954), courtesy name Kedao (可道), formally Prince Wenyi of Ying (瀛文懿王), was a Chinese inventor, printer, and politician. He was an important Chinese governmental official during the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period, who served as a chancellor during the three of the latter four dynasties (Later Tang, Later Jin, and Later Zhou) and was also an honored official during Later Han. For his contribution to improving block-printing process for printing Chinese written works, scholars have compared him to the German inventor and blacksmith Johannes Gutenberg. Traditional histories praised him for his various virtues but also vilified him for not being faithful to a single dynasty but being willing to serve a number of successive dynasties (see Ouyang Xiu and Sima Guang below). Feng Dao is depicted in the Wu Shuang Pu (無雙譜, Table of Peerless Heroes) by Jin Guliang.