Paper in China, Chinese paper, paper

Image 01

Remnants of the oldest known Daoist texts; a silk book from 179 BCE.

Paper in China, Chinese paper, paper

Image 02

Ming dynasty woodcut illustrating the preparation of paper. Pounded bamboo shoots were mixed with lime and boiled for several days to make a soup from which the fibers were extracted using a bamboo screen. Excess water was then pressed out and the sheets of paper dried against a heated wall.

Paper in China, Chinese paper, paper

Image 03

This hemp paper found in a Western Han tomb near Xi'an in 1957 is the earliest known example of paper in the world.

Paper in China, Chinese paper, paper

Image 04

Fragment of paper from 2nd century CE, discovered by Aural Stein in the Gobi desert.

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