There is a saying in ancient books that Cai Lun made paper in the Eastern Han Dynasty, which is still controversial. Judging from the cultural relics and materials unearthed at present, ancient paper has been unearthed in the tombs of the Western Han Dynasty. At that time, paper was a mixture of animal and plant fibers, and these fiber scraps were processed into paper. Since the Eastern Han Dynasty, papermaking technology has been improved, and people can make tissue paper only by using plant fibers.
It can be inferred that Cai Lun contributed a lot to the improvement of papermaking in the Eastern Han Dynasty. He invented the technology of making paper from bark, hemp, rags, fishing nets and other materials, and presented the paper to the emperor. Therefore, people also call this kind of paper "Cai Hou Paper".
The invention of papermaking promoted the development of pen, ink and inkstone. Papermaking spread to Southeast Asia, Europe and Arab countries, which promoted the progress of world civilization.
1986, scholars debated whether ancient paper, the map of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Fangmatan, Tianshui, Gansu, and the hemp paper of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Xi 'an, Shaanxi and Juyan, Gansu belonged to paper. This kind of paper is called hemp paper because of its uneven thickness and uneven fiber distribution. Hemp paper has been the main paper for China's writing and painting for nearly a thousand years from Han Dynasty to Tang Dynasty.
With the development of social productive forces and the richness of social materials, the raw materials for papermaking are gradually increasing. After Wei and Jin Dynasties, people began to make paper with rattan skin (straw, wheat straw), orange skin, mulberry skin, hemp bamboo, nettle and other materials. In the Eastern Jin Dynasty, hemp was used to make paper. Paper made of this material is tough, white and water-resistant, which should be the embryonic form of rice paper. The real Xuan paper belongs to a kind of silver paper produced in Shexian County, Anhui Province during the Southern Dynasties. At that time, Liang Wudi's poem on paper was "white as frost and snow, square and chess, declaring feelings and keeping in mind, not fishing with the net." Enough to explain the level of papermaking at that time.
The Sui and Tang Dynasties were the heyday of papermaking. At this time, the varieties and styles of paper were basically formed, and the dyeing process of paper appeared. In the Tang Dynasty, some famous papers appeared, such as Yangzhou hemp paper and green sandalwood leather rice paper, and some new varieties appeared, such as Poyang White and Chengxin Tang paper. Coloring stationery was a major feature at that time. Sichuan alone has 10 kinds of colored paper, such as crimson, pink and bright yellow.
In the Song Dynasty, bamboo and bamboo bark replaced hemp and became the main raw materials for papermaking. In addition, kapok is also used as a raw material for papermaking. With the rise of printing industry, bamboo paper invented in Jin Dynasty is very popular for printing books. In addition, the processing technology of paper is constantly improving. In addition to fine carving, wax, phellodendron, glue, alum, color, gold and silver accessories are added in the processing to make the paper smoother, smoother and more beautiful.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, China's paper industry continued to develop. The production technology of stationery and rice paper is becoming more and more exquisite. In the production process, besides sizing, adding alum, waxing, dyeing, printing, sand polishing and sprinkling gold and silver, people also use the printing method of bean board and arch flower to make all kinds of exquisite stationery. In the Qing Dynasty, Xuan paper, as the main writing material, expanded in origin and had many names. Besides jade plate paper, rib paper, six auspicious papers and paper clips, there are many special papers, such as cloth paper in Nanyu County and cotton paper in Laiyang, Hunan Province. By the end of Qing Dynasty, machine papermaking technology was introduced into China, and the papermaking industry entered a new stage.