Along the way, I saw a special kind of tree growing everywhere on the mountain, at the bottom of the valley, by the roadside, by the stream, in front of and behind the house. A thick and eccentric old stump; Tall, dense and beautiful branches; Lush green leaves. This tree is a few meters lower and a dozen meters higher. Looking from a distance, it gives people a feeling of chic, beautiful, vigorous and upward. Students told me that this is a unique tree species in Jingxian County-Populus cathayensis.
Pteroceltis tatarinowii is a rare tree species. Some of the sandalwood trees in the mountains grow naturally, and some are planted by later generations. This is because the bark of Pteroceltis tatarinowii is an indispensable special raw material for making famous rice paper at home and abroad. Anhui province is the main producing area of Dalbergia. Pteroceltis tatarinowii grows in the mountainous areas of Jingxian, Nanling, Tongling, Qingyang, Jixi and other places in Anhui Province, and Pteroceltis tatarinowii skin in Jingxian is the best. Because this kind of tree, like tea, can only grow at a certain altitude, usually1000-1500m, so it can't be planted everywhere.
According to hundreds of years of papermaking practice, it is proved that 2-4 years old bast is the best choice for rice paper. The cutting of Pteroceltis tatarinowii has strong seasonality, and it is most suitable from late autumn to early spring of the following year.
The branches cut by villagers should be soaked, peeled, cooked and dried to make good skins, which are sold to rice paper mills as the main and best raw materials for rice paper.
Xuan paper made of Dalbergia odorifera bark has six characteristics, such as strong adsorption, difficult deformation, anti-aging, moth-proofing and long life, which makes the paper thin, light, soft, tough, fine and white. It is helpful for painters and calligraphers to achieve a special style of changing shades and increasing ink absorption when creating paintings and calligraphy. Celebrity calligraphy and painting, historical documents, etc. What is written, printed and copied on rice paper is well preserved and has been passed down to this day. Therefore, Xuan Paper enjoys a good reputation at home and abroad as "a thousand years of paper life and ever-changing Mo Yun". All this is inseparable from the raw material of rice paper, mainly sandalwood bark.
At present, rice paper is divided into various grades according to the amount of sandalwood bark. There is no sandalwood skin, it is a kind of calligraphy and painting paper, and the price is cheap. Brand rice paper containing sandalwood skin costs several thousand yuan, and the aged paper preserved for more than ten years is more expensive. Well-known brands, Red Star brand and Cao Guanghua brand, should reach more than 5,000 yuan. It can be seen that sandalwood bark plays an important role in the quality and price of rice paper. Those of us who study calligraphy and Chinese painting usually only use cheap calligraphy and painting paper without sandalwood leather, and only use good clean leather paper when we really want to create works, otherwise we can't afford to draw.
When I saw the spreading ebony trees, the branches of ebony soaked in the stream and cut off, the peeled ebony skins piled up in front of and behind the villagers' houses, and the piles of ebony branches sawn neatly under the eaves for fuel, I couldn't help but be moved by the dedication of ebony. They have gone through numerous processes such as chopping, soaking, soaking, steaming, boiling, drying, hammering, washing, etc., and dedicated the most beautiful essence fiber to the cause of making rice paper, making a Millennium paper for painters to splash ink on rice paper and create calligraphy and painting that will last forever.
This spirit of sandalwood is a great spirit of self-sacrifice and selfless dedication. It's worth learning, praising and singing!