What is papermaking?

Papermaking is one of the four great inventions in ancient China with a history of 2,200 years. A long time ago, people wrote on Oracle Bone Inscriptions, inscriptions, simplified books, wooden slips and silk books, which were cumbersome and expensive and difficult to popularize. Archaeologists once found a stack of ancient paper called Baqiao Paper in the ancient tomb of the Western Han Dynasty in Xi 'an Baqiao. This shows that hemp and ramie were used to make paper in China in the early Han Dynasty, but the texture was rough and only suitable for wrapping. The hemp paper found in the site of the Western Han Dynasty in Jinguan, Juyan, Gansu Province is thin and even, and can be written. Around the Han Dynasty, scriptures were written on paper. The Biography of Jia Kui in the Later Han Dynasty has already mentioned the "Paper Classics Biography". At that time, the raw materials used for papermaking were few and the cost was high, which could not meet the needs of society.

How to invent a kind of paper with wide sources of raw materials and low price? During the Eastern Han Dynasty and Emperor Wudi of Han Dynasty, Shang Fangling (official name) Cai Lun, who was in charge of palace supplies, finally made high-quality paper with tough texture and low cost on the basis of summing up previous experience.

Cai Lun was born in Guiyang (now Chen County, Hunan Province) in the Eastern Han Dynasty. He entered the palace as a eunuch from an early age. When he was an official, he had frequent contact with craftsmen because he supervised the manufacture of knives and swords, so he studied and improved papermaking methods with them, using bark, hemp head, rags and waste fishing nets as raw materials to make paper. He mashed these raw materials, soaked them in water for a long time, then mashed them into slurry and spread them thinly on the thin curtains. After drying, the sheets on the curtains become paper. This kind of paper is light and thin, the raw materials are easy to find, the price is cheap, it can be produced in large quantities, and it is welcomed by people. In the sixth year of Yuan Xing in the Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D. 105), Cai Lun reported this great achievement to the court, and the Eastern Han Dynasty and the emperor issued orders to the whole country. Since then, his papermaking technology has been popularized all over the country. Because Cai Lun once worked as a "Dragon Pavilion Hou", people called the paper he invented "Cai Hou Paper".

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, 80 years after Cai Lun's death, a papermaking expert named Zuo Bo improved Cai Lun's papermaking technology and made a kind of paper with uniform thickness and bright color, which was called "Zuo Bo paper". During the Western Jin Dynasty, rattan paper prevailed in southern China, especially in Tunxi. In the Six Dynasties, Huang Huang and orpiment dyed books with phellodendron to prevent moths. In the Tang Dynasty, the output of hemp paper increased continuously, and Yangzhou Liuhe paper was "not wet with water". Gu Teng in Shanxi was in short supply. By the middle Tang Dynasty, it was gradually replaced by bamboo, sandalwood, straw and bamboo. In the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Fujian all used tender bamboo to make paper, and Yao Huang, Bachelor and Shaogong were excellent bamboo papers. In the future, bamboo paper will be in the south, "Fujian Province is the only prosperity." With the continuous improvement of alum, glue, powder coating, gold sprinkling and dyeing technology in papermaking, the varieties of paper are increasing day by day. In the Tang Dynasty alone, there were famous papers such as Yizhou yellow and white linen paper, Zhejiang case paper, Zhou Pu fine white linen paper and Xuanzhou jade sandalwood paper, as well as various colored papers such as ten-color stationery, five-color golden flower silk paper, water pattern paper, window paper and tin foil paper. Especially the mottled paper made by Xuanzong Cheng Xiao and the red letterhead made by Xianzong Xue Tao are world-famous. Mulberry paper, which emerged in the Song Dynasty, and hemp paper, which has existed since ancient times, are still high-grade paper products. Money is printed on hemp paper.

China's papermaking first spread to Viet Nam and Korea in the 7th century, and 75 1 spread to Arab countries. /kloc-spread from Arabia to Spain in the middle of the 0/2nd century, to the American continent at the end of 0/7th century, and finally to the whole world. Due to the invention of papermaking, the speed and scale of cultural communication have been greatly improved, and the economic and cultural development of various countries has been promoted. This is also China's great contribution to world civilization.