What are the four steps in the papermaking process?

After Cai Lun's improvement, the ancient papermaking technology formed a set of relatively stereotyped papermaking technology, which can be roughly summarized into four steps: raw material separation, pulping, papermaking and drying.

Raw material separation is to degum raw materials in alkaline solution and disperse them into fibers through soaking or cooking; Beating is to cut off the fiber by cutting and ramming, so that the fiber broom becomes pulp; Paper-making, that is, the pulp is made into slurry through water seepage, and then the pulp is picked up by a fishing machine, that is, a straw mat, so that the pulp is interwoven into thin wet paper on the fishing machine; Drying means drying wet paper in the sun or air, 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, there is no fundamental difference between the production process of wet papermaking and the papermaking method in ancient China.

In a word, papermaking in Han Dynasty is one of the four great inventions of ancient science and technology in China, and it is a very valuable contribution made by the Chinese nation to world civilization, which greatly promoted the spread and exchange of world science and culture and profoundly influenced the process of world history.