Han court official traditionally credited with improving papermaking
Plate 024
105 CE
Han dynasty China
No photograph is shown for this exhibition. The museum displays an image only where it can show the object honestly.
About this date
Chinese records credit the court official Cai Lun with presenting paper to the emperor in 105 CE. Archaeological finds show paper existed earlier, so this is a traditional date for improvement and promotion rather than first invention.
About credit
Paper fragments from the 2nd century BCE show the process was older than Cai Lun. He is credited with refining and promoting it.
Chapter II
The world before
Life before Paper
Writing was done on bamboo strips, silk (expensive) and later papyrus or parchment elsewhere.
II
The human achievement
How it came about
Papermakers pulped fibres from bark, hemp and old rags in water, lifted the suspension on a fine screen so the fibres felted together, then pressed and dried the sheet. The technique travelled west along trade routes and reached the Islamic world and later Europe.
III
Understanding the invention
How it works
Paper, explained in two steps.
01
Step 01 of 02
Felting fibres
Fibres in water tangle and interlock as they settle on a screen. When they dry, they bond into a sheet.
Felting fibres
Any plant will do
IV
The transformation
What changed for humanity
Government
Chinese administrators relied on paper records at scale.
Learning
Cheaper writing material widened education and book production.
Paper is cheap, light and easy to make from common materials. It made books, records and schooling affordable and prepared the way for printing.
V
Before and after
Life before and after Paper
Before
Hand-copied onto expensive silk or animal skin.
After
Copied or later printed on inexpensive sheets.
On larger screens, drag the divider (or use the arrow keys) to give more room to the world before or after.
Printed notes depend on paper’s cost and durability.
VII
Human stories
The people and the moments
Paper reaches Samarkand
An often-told account links the spread of papermaking to the Battle of Talas in 751, but historians debate how much that story explains. Papermaking was established in Baghdad by the late 8th century.
Where accounts differ, this museum follows the documented record and says so.
