The Chinese have been using paper to write on for over two millenia. According to fairly recent archeological finds, paper were being made in China as early has the 1st century BC. The oldest surviving record of paper making in China is a report to the Eastern Han Emperor Ho-di, dated to 105 A.D. Show Early chinese paper was made from the bark of the mulberry tree. The bark fibers were broken and pounded into a sheet. Later, the Chinese discovered that one could make higher quality paper by adding hemp rags and old fish nets to the pulp.  Combined with woodblock printing (invented around 600 AD), comparatively inexpensive paper made it possible to launch China’s first printed newspaper in 740 AD. Paper and the Silk RoadOne of the many things that spread along the Silk Road was the custom of making paper from natural fibers. We do for instance know that paper was introduced to Xinjiang in northwestern China very early through travellers on the Silk Road. Examples of places along the Silk Road were paper was present as early as the 2nd century AD are Loulan, Kotan, Kusha, and Dunhuang. China tried to keep the art of paper making a secret to prevent other countries from setting up their own paper production, but it was only partly effective. Paper making reached Tibet and India in the mid-600s AD and local paper making centers were formed. Reports by the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang dated to 671 AD show that at in the 670s, paper was already in widespread use in the parts of India that he visited. KoreaThe earliest known instances of paper making in Korea is from the 6th century. In Korea, early paper was made from a pulp consistig of fibers from hemp, mulberry, rattan, bamboo, rice straw, and seaweed. JapanAccording to tradition, paper making was introduced to Japan by a Korean buddhist monk named Don-cho, who taught paper making at the Imperial Palace aroudn the year 610 AD. At this point, buddhism was still a faily new religion in Japan, having been first introduced some 60 years earlier. The Ottoman Turks of SamarkandIn 751 AD, Ottoman Turks defeated the Chinese T’ang army at the Battle of the Talas River. Among the Chinese taken as prisoners of war were some that new how to make paper. When brought to Samarkand, they showed their Arab capturers the secrets of paper production, and by 790s AD, Samarkand was home to a flurishing paper industry. EgyptJust like the Chinese, the Arabs of Samarkand strived to keep the know-how of paper making a secret, but the practise did spread to Egypt during the early 900s. Of course, Egypt already had its own very long tradition of writing on something that was quite similar to paper – papyrus. Papyrus is made from the pith of the papyrus plant, a wetland sedge that is native to the Nile region. The earliest archeological evidence of papyrus are remains dated from circa 2555 BC, found during excavatons of the ancient harbor at Wadi al-Jarf on the Red Sea coast. SpainBy 1150 AD, paper were present in Spain, having been brought there as a result of the crusades. Soon, the first European paper industry had been established in Spain.
Today we can’t imagine life without the use of paper, however, it wasn’t always that way. In ancient times many civilizations used natural materials such as rocks and wood to try to convey their communication methods. The ancient Chinese took pride in keeping incredibly detailed records of just about everything and although there is evidence of earlier paper creation, credit is given to early 2nd century CE for the invention of paper. Early paper typesPaper has been made of many natural plant-based materials, and each one has to be sturdy, pliable, and easy to write or drawn on. The most primitive types of paper in China in the 2nd century BCE was mainly made from hemp. The thought is that the creation of paper was found by accident when someone left clothes made of hemp in the water too long after washing and the residue that was formed was pressed into a type of paper. Improvement of paperPrevious to creating paper, the ancient Chinese used wooden strips, costly silk, or even bamboo. Credit is given to ancient Chinese paper to Cai Lun in 105 CE who was the Imperial Workshops director at Luoyang. He soaked plant fibers and then pressed them into dried sheets on screens or wooden frames. The paper results were formed into paper scrolls and used for writing and art. Raw materials for paper creation also included the replacement of hemp with rattan and then later with bamboo fibers. By the Han dynasty (206-220 CE), the ancient Chinese had been experimenting with a variety of fibers from many plants, grasses, tree bark, and vegetable matter to improve the quality and durability of paper. They mixed many of these ingredients together to get low cost/high quality results. The demand for paper was increasing and since bamboo grew so quickly, it became a popular material for paper making. Paper production continued to improve during the Song dynasty (960-1279 CE) when techniques using the boiled bark of the mulberry tree was the main raw material. Paper stylesOnce the techniques for making paper became easier and cheaper, the ancient Chinese started to make paper in a variety of sheet sizes and many colors. Each region of China seemed to have their own special type of paper preference. Since calligraphy and art were very important to the ancient Chinese, there was a special type of paper for these art forms that favored pattern, texture and coloring. This type of paper was made using wheat straw, rice, hibiscus stalks, sandalwood bark, and/or seaweed. The Secret of PapermakingJust as with many of their discoveries and inventions, the ancient Chinese wanted to keep their techniques for making paper secret from the rest of the world. While they succeeded for a very long time, the information eventually got out when there was battle and Arabs took a group of paper makers prisoner. It wasn’t long before Baghdad became one of the top paper makers in the Middle East, and then paper making expanded into Medieval Europe. Paper usesPaper was the single item that allowed the expansion of literacy and the spread of literature. Paper made the creation of books easier, allowed scholars to keep excellent records, and gave the government and merchants the ability to maintain mathematical and financial order. For the next two millennia, the ancient Chinese used paper with brush and ink to create incredible works of art and calligraphy. Once block printing was invented there was a massive increase in demand for paper as religious groups could now create their books more quickly. There was a second boom in the demand for paper when moveable type printing became available. At this point, paper had to be thicker to be able to stand up to the heavy metal and wood type blocks. The value of paperIn ancient China paper was valued to such a degree that it was used for payment of taxes and to pay tribute during the Tang dynasty (618-907 CE). It was the Tang that also set a requirement for color coding paper: white for legal documents, yellow for government, and blue for the Taoist temple communications.
Q&A:What was the earliest primitive paper made from? hemp What accident is thought to have resulted in the invention of paper? leaving hemp clothes in the water too long What fast-growing plant became one of the most popular early materials for paper creation? bamboo What city in the Middle East became the largest makers of paper after the Chinese secret got out? Baghdad Before inventing paper, what were the 3 main items that the ancient Chinese used to write and draw on? wooden sticks, silk, bamboo Name at least two things that paper was used for outside of writing and books military maps, packaging delicate items such as medicine, as wrapping paper for tea and other foods |
What was paper used for in ancient China?
Pos Terkait
Copyright © 2024 ketiadaan Inc.
