Early Papermaking in China

Early papermaking in China

The world's earliest known printed book (using woodblock printing), the Diamond Sutra of AD 868, shows the widespread availability and practicality of paper in China.

Papermaking is considered to be one of the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China, since the first papermaking process was developed in China during the early 2nd century. During the Shang (1600 BC-1050 BC) and Zhou (1050 BC-256 BC) dynasties of ancient China, documents were ordinarily written on bone or bamboo (on tablets or on bamboo strips sewn and rolled together into scrolls), making them very heavy and awkward to transport. The light material of silk was sometimes used, but was normally too expensive to consider. While the Han Dynasty Chinese court official Cai Lun is widely regarded to have invented the modern method of papermaking (inspired from wasps and bees) from wood pulp in AD 105, the discovery of specimens bearing written Chinese characters in 2006 at north-east China's Gansu province suggest that paper was in use by the ancient Chinese military more than 100 years before Cai in 8 BC. [2] Archeologically however, true paper without writing has been excavated in China dating to the reign of Emperor Wu of Han from the 2nd century BC, used for purposes of wrapping or padding protection for delicate bronze mirrors.[2] It was also used for safety, such as the padding of poisonous 'medicine' as mentioned in the official history of the period.[2] Although paper used for writing became widespread by the 3rd century,[3] paper continued to be used for wrapping (and other) purposes.

Toilet paper was used in China by at least the 6th century AD.[4]