The ins and outs of Cai Lun's papermaking, as well as the Millennium scam, will be explained for you one by one.

The first mystery-the mystery of the raw materials of paper

We modern people have become accustomed to the use of paper, and there are many kinds of paper: paper for writing, paper for copying, paper for printing, paper for wiping hands, and so on. There are countless kinds of paper. But at least before the Jin Dynasty, paper was a luxury both in the palace and among the people.

We all know that paper should be invented by Cai Lun in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Fan Ye wrote a historical book called The Book of the Later Han Dynasty, which not only gave an independent biography of Cai Lun, but also emphasized that the raw materials of paper were bark, hemp heads, fishing nets and discarded cloth.

However, when you open the book Shuo Wen Jie Zi written by Xu Shen at the same time as Cai Lun, he says that paper is made of worn-out silk. There are obvious differences between these two records. Xu Shen once had a close affair with Cai Lun, and he also consulted Cai Lun's paper-making methods and materials. Cai Lun also answered them one by one.

The process of making paper is called "beating the broken silk in water", that is, beating it in water and beating it into pulp, then filtering out the pulp with bamboo curtains, spreading it out one by one, then tearing it off, and drying it to make paper.

The second mystery-what's wrong?

To solve this mystery, scientists all over the world collected more than 8 species of ancient paper from all over the world and tested them. The test results are also surprisingly consistent, basically: bark, marijuana and a small amount of cloth. In view of this result, the answer seems to come to the fore, but some researchers have done reverse experiments to make sure that paper can't be made of silk.

When silk is beaten in water, no matter how it is beaten manually or mechanically, it can't be pulped. Finally, it is concluded that animal fibers can't be pulped.

This experiment also shows that Cai Lun told a big lie, and Xu Shen was the most direct victim, which was recorded in Shuo Wen Jie Zi. It's a good thing that this mystery has not been uncovered. Once it was made public, Xu Shen became a joke through the ages.

the third mystery-why did Cai Lun lie?

It is understandable that Cai Lun lied to Xu Shen, because he even lied to the emperor at that time. If he didn't lie to Xu Shen, he wouldn't be able to justify himself in front of the emperor. Moreover, if Xu Shen told the emperor the truth, it would be a great sin to deceive the emperor. But why did he make up such a lie? There is no denying that Cai Lun did contribute to the papermaking process.

This will start with nine volumes of ancient paper.

In recent years, in the process of archaeological excavation, China excavated nine volumes of ancient paper. The texture of these nine volumes of ancient paper is highly consistent with the paper presented by Cai Lun. At first glance, it should be the product of the invention of papermaking in Cai Lun. But after carbon 14 identification, an unexpected result appeared. These papers were more than 1 years earlier than Cai Lun. It seems that we can completely overturn Cai Lun's paper-making theory in this way.

bark beating

About 1, years ago, bark cloth and textile have become the main materials for people to make clothes. More than 1 years ago, many foreigners have seen the process of making bark cloth after arriving in Hainan. The process of making bark cloth: first, soak the bark in water, then beat it into paste, then harden and dry it in the sun, and it can be used to make clothes.

In this process, because there are often some errors in manual operation, and some bark cloths are too thin to be used, people use these thin bark cloths to wrap some valuables. Where is this technology most popular?

In the gathering place of Miao people, the Miao people have made bark cloth for the longest time and used it most commonly. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, where did the Miao people mainly gather? Jingzhou.

As it happens, Jingzhou is also the hometown of Cai Lun. The story can also be reduced to this: Cai Lun was very familiar with the making of bark cloth since he was a child in Jingzhou, and he also knew that there would be errors in the making process, which made some bark cloth so thin that it could not be made into clothes, but it could be used for other purposes.

When suddenly one day, the emperor felt that it was a waste to make paper out of silk, Cai Lun had a brainwave and offered his own improved method of making paper out of bark cloth. In this way, Cai Lun was a very clever speculator, which is also in line with his character tonality in history. In 121 AD, after the death of Empress Dowager Deng, the backstage of Cai Lun, Cai Lun also committed suicide because of fear. From this incident, we can see that.

why did he cheat the emperor?

At this point, this question is actually very easy to answer, because Cai Lun is a speculator. He has found out the emperor's preferences, but he is afraid of losing his credit. Before the emperor wrote with "silk", which belongs to high-end silk, so since you think it is wasteful, I will say that my material is low-end silk, and the difference between them is not too far. If Cai Lun directly tells the emperor that it is rotten bark, the emperor will probably ban this technology out of pride and imperial dignity, and will also scold Cai Lun for nonsense.

By Fan Ye's time, the truth had already come out. Papermaking had spread among the people, and mass production of paper began, so he dared to tell the truth and record the real materials of papermaking in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty. Although Cai Lun didn't really invent and create "papermaking", his contribution to China and the world is still enormous. No matter for what purpose, it is undeniable that he dug this technology out of the mountains and contributed it to the world.

well, we have solved the mystery of Cai Lun papermaking. You only need to remember two points: first, the material records of paper in the Book of the Later Han Dynasty and Shuo Wen Jie Zi are different, and according to scientific research, it is determined that the former is correct and the latter is wrong; Second, papermaking comes from beating bark cloth. Cai Lun's greatest contribution is not to invent papermaking, but to popularize this technology.

thank you for reading. your concern is the greatest encouragement to me. Bark (1) Cai Lun (1) Silk (1)