Paper

Paper, known to be first invented in A.D. 105, really had originated about 200 years earlier. Most likely invented by Ts'ai Lun, a Court eunuch, paper replaced other materials as a cheap and reliable substitute for silk, wood and bamboo. Silk was strong, but was too expensive to use often. Wood and bamboo were too heavy for basic writing needs.

This new, lightweight writing material was being demanded for official documents of the Empire to the scientific needs of alchemists. The process of making paper was simple. Using old fishnets, rags, tree bark, grasses and hemp wastes they were first washed and then combined with water to be beaten into a watery pulp with a wooden instrument. Pouring this mush into a large pan, a screen was slid underneath the pulp and then were set to dry into sheets. A more elaborate way of making paper was to boiling the hemp waste, placing them on screens and plastering them to a wall of a large furnace to dry. (Ex 1.1)

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