The purpose of this report is to discuss the invention of paper and paper history in various countries in Asia. Among Asian countries, ancient China will be emphasized due to the fact that invention of papermaking attributed to Chinese inventor. The flow of papermaking technology in Asia will also be mentioned in the following discussion. The introduction part provides the background of writing materials and papermaking invention,
2. Introduction
Before 105 A.D, writing materials varied from clay around 3100 B.C, to Egyptian papyrus around 3000 B.C, to bamboo books from 1500 B.C, to wax and woods from 5th century B.C, and to Pergamum and parchment from 2nd century B.C. [1] It’s not convenient to write on these materials and hard …show more content…
Spread of Papermaking in Asia countries
4.1 Expansion of Papermaking inside Ancient China
After 105 A.D., papermaking process flowed from Henan province to the rest of the developed economic and cultural cities. As Cai Lun migrated to Sichuan province, the technique was delivered there too. As a result, Henan and Sichuan became two earliest provinces that utilized paper instead of bamboo and silk. During 3rd century A.D, people in Tibet learned how to make paper.
4.2 Spread of papermaking outside Ancient China
Around 3rd century A.D, the technique began spreading to Vietnam. Afterward, papermaking moved to ancient Korea from China as early as the 6th century A.D [6]. At that time, the feedstocks for producing paper were hemp, rattan, mulberry, bamboo, seaweed, and rice straw. The various feedstocks used for writing materials show the development of papermaking technique. The technology had reached a higher stage. Around 610 A.D, a Korea monk called Don-cho brought this process to Japan and firstly, paper was just used for official records and documentation [6]. The application and demand of paper wasn’t high in ancient Japan until the arriving of Buddhism from India [6]. Because of the need of dissemination of missions, Japanese started producing more papers for daily