For a long time before the invention of paper, what did people use as notes? According to the literature and physical data, the earliest people used knots to take notes. When something happened, they tied a knot and solved it when they were finished. Later, he carved on the tortoise shell, which is called "Oracle Bone Inscriptions". After the bronze wares were made, they were engraved with inscriptions, namely "Bronze Inscription" or "Zhong Dingwen". Then, write the words on the pieces cut from the bamboo, which are called "bamboo slips". For example, a wide piece of bamboo is called a "bamboo slip". At the same time, some of them are also written on silk fabrics. In the pre-Qin period, in addition to the above materials, words carved on stones were also found, such as the famous "Shi Guwen".
As we all know, paper was invented by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty. However, recent archaeological excavations have questioned this. With the progress of archaeological work along the Northwest Silk Road, many sites and tombs of the Western Han Dynasty have been discovered, including many paper cultural relics. These rights documents are named after the unearthed places.
According to the chronological order of ancient paper unearthed at present, it can be arranged as follows: Fangmatan Paper, Baqiao Paper, Xuanquan Paper, Maquanwan Paper, Juyan Paper in the Middle Western Han Dynasty and Dry Beach Paper in the Late Western Han Dynasty. These papers not only predate Cai Lun paper, but also have ink fonts on some papers, indicating that they have been used to write documents.
Cai Lun, the eunuch in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, was recognized as the inventor of papermaking.
According to Ye Fan's Book of the Later Han Dynasty, "Cai Lun, with respect, is also a native of Guiyang. ..... Since ancient times, many book contracts have used bamboo slips, and those who use silks are called' paper'. Expensive and simple, inconvenient for people. Lennart created this idea, using bark, hemp head, our cloth and fishing nets as paper. In the first year of Yuanxing, play it. " The emperor's ability is superior, so he always uses it wisely, so the world calls it Cai Hou paper.
This is the earliest record of papermaking in historical documents. As can be seen from the records, the raw materials used for papermaking in Cai Lun are low-priced materials such as bark, hemp head, old cloth and fishing net. Therefore, the paper made by this method has low cost and can be popularized and applied soon.
But before some documents recorded Cai Lun, there were examples of using paper. For example, Ban Gu's Hanshu used paper to wrap medicine two years ago BC/KLOC-0. In particular, the paper of the Western Han Dynasty unearthed in Fangmatan, Tianshui, Gansu, the beacon tower site in Maquanwan, Dunhuang, and the post office site in Hanxuanquan, Ganquan, Dunhuang since the beginning of this century have been proved by existing physical objects that paper was used in the Western Han Dynasty long before Cai Lun invented papermaking. This is about 170 years before Cai Lun invented papermaking.
It can be seen that paper was invented as early as the Western Han Dynasty. At that time, the quality of paper was so poor that it could not be used for writing. It was not until the late Western Han Dynasty that the quality of paper was improved. On the basis of this paper-making technology, Cai Lun improved the raw materials and technology, and produced high-quality paper. In particular, Cai Lun has expanded the raw materials for papermaking, providing conditions for the extensive use of various plant fibers for papermaking in the future.
In 105, the paper made in Cai Lun has been able to meet the requirements of writing. For Cai Lun, the purpose of papermaking is to replace wooden slips, bamboo slips, silk books and other materials for writing and recording words, and it is widely used because of its advantages of light paper and low price.
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, papermaking surpassed that of Cai Lun.
In the 4th century, bamboo slips, silk and paper were used together. With the continuous improvement of paper quality and output, paper has become an indispensable writing material for literati.
There are few historical records about the ancient papermaking methods in China, but the papermaking technology and its principle have not changed much since it was invented two thousand years ago. To sum up, the following points can be summarized:
First, cut plants, such as hemp plants, are soaked in water, peeled, chopped with a knife, boiled in a pot, soaked and trampled after cooling, and stirred with a stick to make their fibers break and thin.
Secondly, add auxiliary materials to make paper pulp.
Thirdly, it can be dried by a paper machine (bamboo curtain and the like) to make paper.