What are the traditional handmade paper varieties preserved in China?

For example, the Xuan paper and calligraphy paper of China's paintings and calligraphy still have practical significance for preservation and development. At present, the more famous handmade papers are Xuan paper, leather paper, cotton paper, calligraphy and painting paper, as well as wool paper, yuan book paper, paper, fish mouth paper, sea moon paper and so on. The main characteristics of these handmade papers are: uniform paper, light and soft, strong water absorption, suitable for writing brush strokes and painting Chinese paintings. In addition, handmade paper is also used for printing books, rubbings, making fans, mounting calligraphy and painting, packaging articles, processing firecrackers and so on.

The traditional 72-step production cycle takes half a year, and it takes 7 days and 7 nights to cook twice. Now with high pressure and strong alkali, the two cooking processes are combined into one. However, the paper produced by this method is not as good as traditional paper.

In addition to the simplification of working procedures, due to the changes of the times, papermaking is also facing problems such as lack of raw materials, shortage of talents and environmental pollution.

A few years ago, there were tens of thousands of acres of white bamboo and water bamboo suitable for papermaking. There are few bamboo forests now. Now we can only use bamboo, and some raw materials need to be shipped from other places or even thousands of miles away in Yunnan Province. In addition, young people are reluctant to engage in this industry, because there are many manual production processes, high labor intensity and low economic benefits.