INVENTION OF PAPER!!!

Paper was invented by Cai Lun in 105 AD and was one of the four great inventions by the Chinese. Cai Lun not only improved the papermaking technique, but also made it possible to use a variety of materials, such as tree bark, hemp, rags, etc. The earliest paper discovered in Fufeng County, Shaanxi, was made from hemp during the Western Han (206 BC - 24 AD).

While papermaking went on throughout the Chinese Empire including Korea, the secret eventually spread to Japan, and later spread slowly across central Asia and Persia by way of the caravan routes, reaching Samarkand about 750 AD.

Bamboo paper was made in the Tang Dynasty (608 -907). Xuan paper made in Jing County, Anhui, is probably the most known paper, which is mainly used in Chinese painting and calligraphy. Xuan paper is soft, smooth, white, absorbent and very durable.

Early Chinese paper appears to have been made by from a suspension of hemp waste in water, washed, soaked, and beaten to a pulp with a wooden mallet. A paper mold, probably a sieve of coarsely woven cloth stretched in a four-sided bamboo frame, was used to dip up the fiber slurry from the vat and hold it for drying. Eventually, tree bark, bamboo, and other plant fibers were used in addition to hemp.

The first real advance in papermaking came with the development of a smooth material for the mold covering, which made it possible for the papermaker to free the newly formed sheet and reuse the mold immediately. This covering was made from thin strips of rounded bamboo stitched or laced together with silk, flax, or animal hairs. Other Chinese improvements in papermaking include the use of starch as a sizing material and the use of a yellow dye which doubled as an insect repellent for manuscript paper.