FAQ

When was paper invented?

Before the invention of paper, Chinese kept written records on tortoise shells, bones, metals, stones, bamboo slips, wooden tablets and silk.

In A.D. 105 Cai Lun presented the Emperor with a fine quality paper ( in Western Han Dynasty). The inner bark of mulberry tree was used for fibre. Later they found that the fibres good for paper-making could be obtained by pounding rags, hemp rope, and old fishing nets into a pulp.

In the 7th century the technique of paper making found its way to Japan through Korea. Then to Europe via Iraq and Arabia in the 8th century. Spain and France set up their first papermills in the 12th century. Later paper-making spread westward to Mexico. In America the first paper mill was built in Pennsylvania USA in A.D.1690.

From the 18th century the manufacturing of paper was by machinery instead of by hand. Nowadays most commercial papers begin with shredded wood pulp, but superior papers still include the use of fabric rags.

In 1973 and 1978 more evidence shown that paper was invented over 2000 years ago by the Chinese. Specimens of hemp paper were found in Shanxi of China backdated to 49 B.C.