With or Without Paper

Imagine the rise of civilization to today’s level of technology without paper. Would men have walked on the moon?

Papermaking is one of the four significant inventions from ancient China. Almost 2,000 years ago, the discovery of paper was made in China.

in 105 AD, Cai Lon submitted his discovery to the Han emperor. He had invented a way to make paper. This method soon spread to the rest of China, and the emperor rewarded Cai Lon by making him a member of the nobility.

The basic principles of papermaking invented by Cai Lon are still in use today. To make paper was a six-step process, and paper manufactured properly lasts for centuries. Buddhism arrived in China about the time of the invention of paper and this helped spread Buddhist ideas, which contributed to the spread of civilization.  By the 12th century, the paper making process reached Europe.

See China Points the Way

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

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One Response to With or Without Paper

  1. […] Paper is one of the significant inventions from China, and in 105 AD, Cai Long submitted this discovery to the Han Emperor Liu Zhao.  The basic method of papermaking that Cai Long developed is still in use today. […]

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