Examples of innovative and traditional materials

Paper-making is one of the four great inventions in ancient China. Who invented papermaking? It has long been thought that Cai Lun, the eunuch of the Eastern Han Dynasty, invented it. The main basis is the record of Biography of Cai Lun in the later Han Dynasty. The book said: "From ancient times to the present, many books have bamboo slips, and those made of silk (that is, silk cut according to the needs of writing) are called paper. It is both expensive and simple. Therefore, some works at home and abroad later regarded Cai Lun of the Eastern Han Dynasty as the inventor of paper, and took 105, the year when he presented paper to Liu Zhao, the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, as the birth year of paper.

However, since the late archaeologist Huang Wenbi discovered a ancient paper in the middle of the Western Han Dynasty in Lop Nur, Xinjiang in 1933, he had different views on the invention of papermaking. On May 8, 20438+0957, 88 pieces of ancient paper scraps were found in the ancient tomb of Baqiao Brick and Tile Factory in the suburb of Xi, Shaanxi Province. This ancient paper is in a very good position under three bronze mirrors. However, the edge is not completely rotten. This discovery aroused the interest of researchers. According to archaeological research, it is believed that this tomb will not be later than the fifth year of founding ceremony, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty (BC 1 18), so it can be roughly determined that the age of Baqiao paper was before BC 1 18. This time is 2000 years earlier than Cai Lun's papermaking. 1973 to 1974, two pieces of hemp paper in the late Western Han Dynasty were unearthed at the Han Juyan site in Gansu Province. In particular, it should be pointed out here that1from June to September, 1986, archaeologists from Gansu Provincial Institute of Archaeology excavated a geological map in Matan, Tianshui, the ancient tomb of the Western Han Dynasty. This paper is 5.5 cm long and 2.6 cm wide. This newly discovered paper map of the Western Han Dynasty.

In addition, in the history books, there were some records about paper long before Cai Lun. For example, in three ancient stories, it was said that Liu Yuxin Yi of Wei had a big nose, and Emperor Wu didn't like him. Jiang Chong gave him an idea to "cover his nose with paper" when he went to see Emperor Wu again. At Jiang Chong's words, the prince covered his nose with paper. He went to the palace to visit the dead emperor. Emperor Wu was furious. This painting took place in 9 1 year BC. Another example is recorded in the biography of Empress Zhao in Han Dynasty: Zhao, the younger sister of Zhao, a favorite of Hanwu, sent someone to send poison and "flogging books" to force Cao Wei to commit suicide. According to Ying Shao, a native of the Eastern Han Dynasty, in 76 AD, Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty ordered Jia Kui to appoint 20 professors to teach Zuo Zhuan, and "bamboo slips were passed on, and paper classics were passed on". The documents recorded on the above paper are all earlier than 105, that is, the year when Cai Lun presented paper to Han and Emperor.

The comrades who denied that papermaking was invented by Cai Lun thought that "it was the working people of the Western Han Dynasty who invented papermaking. After the working people in the Eastern Han Dynasty inherited the papermaking technology in the Western Han Dynasty, they improved, developed and improved it. When the emperor arrived in Yong, Shang Fangling (who was in charge of managing the Imperial Palace and supervising the production of various instruments) organized Cai Lun, and with sufficient manpower and material resources, organized a small number of government houses to go to the Palace, and supervised the production of a number of fine papers carefully crafted in the previous life, which played in the first year of Yuan Xing and after Jin Dynasty.

Another opinion insists that Cai Lun is the inventor of papermaking in China, on the grounds that "according to the explanation of paper in Shuo Wen Jie Zi by Xu Shen in the Han Dynasty, the paper mentioned in the ancient literature before Cai Lun was made of silk fiber, which was actually not paper, but a by-product of bleached silk. Since ancient times, it has been necessary to create Chinese-style plant fiber paper. Generally, basic operations such as cutting, retting, beating, hanging, papermaking, setting and drying are required. Baqiao paper is not paper. The reason is that "from the outside, its paper is loose and rough, and its thickness varies greatly." By observing with solid microscope and scanning electron microscope, it is found that most fibers and fiber bundles are long, which indicates that their cutting degree is poor. It's not real paper. Perhaps it is just soaked textile scraps, such as the accumulation of messy threads and other fibers, which have been lined under the bronze mirror of the ancient tomb for many years and formed sheets under the pressure of the mirror's weight. In addition, other so-called ancient paper in the Western Han Dynasty is also very rough, and at best it is only the embryonic form of paper. Cai Lun and his craftsmen summed up the improvement on the basis of previous bleaching and making embryonic paper. In terms of raw materials and technology, the production of paper has been transferred to an independent writing industry. Admittedly, "Cai Lun Paper" was not made by Cai Lun, but without his "heart", this kind of plant fiber paper could not have been made by a craftsman alone. Therefore, even today when embryonic paper has been unearthed, it is still correct to regard Cai Lun Ping as the inventor or representative of China papermaking, which has sufficient historical basis.

In addition, the records of Cai Lun's papermaking in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty cited in China of Han Dynasty are mainly taken from Serina Liu's History of the East View. Serina Liu and Cai Lun are contemporaries and should be credible. It can be seen from the records that Cai Hou's paper can not only pay tribute to the emperor, but also replace silk writing, and the paper quality must reach a certain level.

Some scholars also believe that whether Baqiao paper is a product of the Western Han Dynasty deserves further research. The reason they put forward is that "it is difficult to make a convincing scientific judgment on the production age of ancient paper before accurately finding out the life time of the tomb man. Moreover, tombs have disturbed the soil layer and been disturbed by external interference, so it is not excluded that they are brought in by future generations; The Changmawangdui, which is also the tomb of the Han Dynasty, is intact, as if nothing had happened. The owner of the tomb has a name to check and the historical materials are reliable. Unearthed cultural relics are so rich that there is not a single piece of hemp paper except for thousands of simple strategies and silk-woven ancient paper silk paintings. Some researchers have also recognized the handwriting similar to regular script from the unearthed Baqiao paper, which looks like the font in the History of the Three Kingdoms of the Eastern Jin Dynasty and was unearthed in Xinjiang.