How did the printing press encourage the spread of ideas?

By making the written word available.

Explanation:

Before the printing press, it was required to manually read and copy books to make more of them. This made books rare enough to be limited to the church and nobility. As literacy rates spread and books were more available due to the press, information traveled further and further.

china unilaterally claims the entire south china sea as sovereign territory, then builds artificial islands to bolster its claim. it suddenly activates an air defense identification zone over the east china sea, and threatens to down any aircraft that does not report its position. it builds roads into indian territory, then redraws the maps to show that it is actually chinese territory. the people's republic under president xi jinping is quickly becoming the bully of asia.