What was the papermaking process of ancient papermaking?

Cai Lun improved papermaking. He made paper from bark, hemp head, cloth, fishing net and other raw materials through crushing, ramming, papermaking and baking, which is the origin of modern paper. This kind of paper is easy to find, cheap and has improved quality, so it is gradually widely used. In order to commemorate Cai Lun's achievements, later generations called this kind of paper "Cai Hou Paper".

This process can be roughly summarized as four steps:

The first is the separation of raw materials, that is, the raw materials are degummed by soaking or cooking in alkaline solution and dispersed into fibers;

The second is beating, that is, cutting off fibers by cutting and ramming, and sweeping them into pulp;

The third is papermaking, that is, the pulp is made into slurry through water seepage, and then the pulp is picked up by a fishing machine (pad) to interweave the pulp into thin wet paper on the fishing machine;

The fourth is drying, that is, drying or drying wet paper, and taking it off becomes paper.

After the Han Dynasty, although the craft was constantly improved and matured, these four steps remained basically unchanged. Even in modern times, in the production of wet papermaking, there is still no fundamental difference between the production process and the papermaking method in ancient China.

If you are satisfied, please accept it. Thank you.