Randy Alfred writes in the Wired News that it was this week one thousand nine hundred and three years ago, that is on the 11 of March, 105 CE, that the eunuch Tsai Lun (Cai Lun) showed his 'invention' of paper to the Han emperor Ho Ti (or He Di) of China. And with that the emperor's court became no longer paperless. The rest is history, like they say. Tsai Lun, of course, lied because archaeological evidence show that people in northwest China were making paper two centuries before Tsai Lun introduced it to the court. But on paper, Tsai Lun invented paper. Still credit must be given to Tsai Lun for improving, standardizing and refining the process, using new materials and establishing a Chinese paper industry.
Most people probably know that the word 'paper' comes from 'papyrus', a plant found in Egypt along the Nile River. About 5,000 years ago, Egyptians would use 'sheets' of papyrus made by harvesting, peeling and slicing the plant into strips, and then layered, pounded and smoothed to make a flat, uniform sheet. For 3000 years there were no major changes in writing material until the Chinese started using paper. (Now we have the computer.)
The first Chinese paper was made from sodden hemp waste, beaten to a pulp with a wooden tool and stretched over a coarsely woven cloth sieve on a bamboo frame. Instead of hemp, Tsai used pulp from bamboo and the inner bark of the mulberry. He also experimented with the bark of other trees, as well as linen rags and fishnets.
The invention of paper was crucial in the development of the Chinese civilization since it facilitated its spread much faster through widespread use of literature and literacy. (Tell that to the ignoramuses who run Malaysia.) Future Chinese emperors would make paper a tool for imperial administration and the diffusion of knowledge. The Chinese further advanced paper-making process including the invention of a quick-release mould for more production speed, and the use of starch as a filler.The official biography of Tsai Lun, written in China, says: In ancient times writings and inscriptions were generally made on tablets of bamboo or on pieces of silk called chih. But silk being costly and bamboo heavy, they were not convenient to use. Tsai Lun [Cai Lun] then initiated the idea of making paper from the bark of trees, remnants of hemp, rags of cloth, and fishing nets. He submitted the process to the emperor in the first year of Yuan-Hsing and received praise for his ability. From this time, paper has been in use everywhere and is universally called 'the paper of Marquis Tsai'.
The emperor Ho Ti (or He Di) was so pleased with Tsai Lun that he promoted him and granted the eunuch an aristocratic title and great wealth.
Tsai Lun was born in Ch'en-chou during the Eastern Han Dynasty around 50 CE. He stared serving as a court eunuch in 75 CE, and in 89 CE he was promoted by Emperor Ho Ti with the title of Shang Fang Si (officer in charge of manufacturing instruments and weapons). In 105 CE, Tsai Lun (with help of imperial consort, Deng) invented the composition for paper along with the paper-making process. In 114 CE, following his invention, Tsai Lun was given the title of Marquis. It was later that he became involved in intrigue, as a supporter of Empress Dou, and became involved in the death of her romantic rival, Consort Song. In 121 CE, after Consort Song's grandson Emperor An assumed power after Empress Deng's death, and Tsai was ordered to report to prison. But before that, he committed suicide by drinking poison, apparently, after taking a bath and dressing in fine robes. (All of which has nothing to do with paper, but I am intrigued by the enormous power of these guys wielded -- and they didn't even have nuts.)
Paper-making remained a closely guarded secret until it spread to Korea in the sixth century, and to Japan in the seventh. The technology then spread westwards to Tibet and Central Asia. In 751 CE Arabs captured some Chinese paper-makers after Tang troops were defeated in the Battle of Talas River between Arab Abbasid Caliphate and the Chinese Tang Dynasty, and paper started being produced in Samarkand. In the year 794 CE, a paper mill was built in Baghdad. Paper-making continued westward, and the first paper mill was built in Europe in 1150 CE. (Another significance of The Battle of River Talas, as told by Russian historian Vasily Bartold was, "... undoubtedly of great importance in the history of (Western) Turkestan as it determined the question which of the two civilizations, the Chinese or the Muslim, should predominate in the land (of Turkestan)." In other words it caused the decline of Tang influence in Central Asia and switched authority to the Abbasids, Tibetans, or Uighurs and the introduction of Islam among the Turkic peoples. Other historians give it much less significance, apart from the paper making thing.)
Then in 1448 CE, Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press.
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