In fact, there are records in ancient books that before Cai Lun 'invented' paper, people were already using paper. The Biography of Jia Kui in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty mentions that in the first year of Jianchu (AD 76), Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty ordered Jia Kui to select 2,000 Tai students with outstanding academic performance and award them with one bamboo slip, one paper, and one pass on the classics. This shows that paper was used to copy books at that time, nearly 30 years before Cai Lun made paper. Dongguan Hanji only records Cai Lun, Dian Shangfang, and paper. The authors of Dongguan Hanji, Liu Zhen, Yan Du, and others, were all contemporaries of Cai Lun. If Cai Lun had invented paper, they would not have failed to record it. Since the 20th century, due to the discovery of ancient paper from the Western Han Dynasty, Cai Lun's theory of inventing paper began to waver and was subsequently denied. Although Cai Lun was not the inventor of paper, he was still an innovator and promoter of papermaking technology. Cai Lun carefully summarized the experience of his predecessors. He believed that by expanding the sources of papermaking raw materials, improving papermaking technology, and improving paper quality, paper could be accepted by everyone. Cai Lun first used bark to make paper. Bark is a much richer raw material than hemp, which can greatly increase paper production. The lignin, pectin and protein contained in the bark are much higher than those of hemp, so degumming and pulping of the bark is more difficult than that of hemp. This prompted Cai Lun to improve papermaking technology. In the Western Han Dynasty, lime water was used to make pulp, and in the Eastern Han Dynasty, plant ash water was used to make pulp. Plant ash water is highly alkaline, which is beneficial to improving the quality of pulp. In the first year of Yuanxing (AD 105), Cai Lun presented a batch of high-quality paper he produced in Shangfang to Emperor Liu Zhao of the Han Dynasty. Emperor He of the Han Dynasty praised his talent and immediately ordered the world to adopt it. In this way, Cai Lun's papermaking method quickly spread throughout the country.
According to the age of development, since bamboo pulp paper only appeared in the Ming Dynasty, bamboo pulp paper should be superior to wood pulp paper. However, due to the continuous improvement of technology, the quality of paper ultimately depends on the papermaking process.