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The making of paper has contributed materially to the advance of world science and culture. Paper was invented in China to be a universal writing material, and has been used by mankind for two thousand years. Before the appearance of paper, bamboo slips, wooden tablets and boards, papyrus, palm leaves, tree bark, silk and parchment were used for writing in East and West since ancient times. These materials, however, were either bulky, brittle, expensive or scarce, and all of them were relatively difficult to use and obtain. The growth of social economy and culture intensified the demand for new types of materials which were cheap, lightweight, and easily obtainable. Protracted experiments by ancient Chinese artisans resulted in the invention of a form of vegetable-fiber paper made from rope ends, rags, and bark. This marked an epoch making revolution in the manufacture of writing materials and a classic example of the multipurpose use of natural resources.
Paper is a felted sheet of vegetable fibers from a water suspension using a sieve-like screen. When water escapes and dries, the layer of interwoven fibers becomes a thin matted sheet and is called paper. Traditionally, paper was thought to be invented by the eunuch Cai Lun in the year 105. But, according to recent archaeological discoveries in the last century, paper made of hemp fibers from rags had already been used in the second century B.C. as a new type of writing material. After that, papermaking was further improved and popularized in the second to the third centuries in China. During the third to the sixth centuries, new materials for making paper were developed. Apart from hemp, paper made of paper mulberry bark and rattan was produced. This marked an important stage in the history of papermaking. Meanwhile, paper converting was developed, such as sizing with starch, coating with white mineral powder and dyeing, such as with cork tree bark to make paper yellow and mothproof. Paper was widely used in daily life to make umbrellas, fans, kites, paper-cut-outs, and even toilet paper. The continued refinements in the development of papermaking promoted the flourishing of education, culture, and science.
The next important stage in the development of papermaking was in the Tang dynasty (618-907), in which new kinds of...