China Popular Itineraries |
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| According to historical records, Cai Lun (died in 121 A.D. ) in the East-ern Han Dynasty was the first person who, using such materials as bark, hards, rugs and old fishnet, made what was to be termed as paper. And it was he who asked Emperor Hanhe to give the order to popularize paper. In 114 A. D., Cai Lun was given the title Longting Duke. Since then people have re-ferred to paper as Duke Cai Paper. In 317 A. D., Emperor Jinyuan of the Jin Dynasty moved the capital to Jiankang (Nanjing in Zhejiang Province today), and papermaking was introduced from the Yellow River area to the Yangtse River area. There emerged a wider range of materials for making paper and the length of paper was expanded from the original 24 cm to 38 cm or so. In the Tang Dynasty, the papermaking industry reached its climax. Papermak-ing could be found in minorities' areas as well as in the Han nationality's ar-eas. There were paper workshofSs run by local people, apart from those run by the government. Great improvements could be found in both quantity and quality of paper, and paper length had increased to 42 - 45 cm. During the two dynasties of Ming and Qing, further development was achieved in paper-making. Various skills had become mature. Used papers were recycled and the paper could be as long as 5 meters. The popularity of China's papermak-ing began in the 4th century. It spread into the Korean Peninsula and Japan in 384 A.D. and 610 A.D. respectively. Since the 8th century, paper making spread successively into Iraq, Syria, Egypt, Morocco, Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, the United Kingdom, and Australia. By the middle of the 19th century, China' s manual papermaking had been popu-larized throughout the world, laying a solid foundation in the development of mechanical papermaking. |
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