History of paper: Early Chinese paper
Paper invented in China
Since the invention of writing, people had been trying to come up with something easier to write on than papyrus or parchment, and also something easier and cheaper to make.
Read more about papyrus
What is parchment made of?
More ancient China articles
But it took 3000 years to come up with paper! Paper was invented around 100 BC in China. In 105 AD, under the Han Dynasty emperor Ho-Ti, a government official in China named Ts’ai Lun was the first to start a paper-making industry.
What was the Han Dynasty all about?
How Ts’ai Lun made paper
Looking for a Halloween costume? Go as T’sai Lun! Or click for other amazing costumes!
Read more about hemp
He may have based his idea on bark cloth, which was very common in China and also made from mulberry bark. Hemp cloth was also common in China. Ts’ai Lun’s paper was a big success, and began to be used all over China. With paper available, Buddhist monks in China began to work on ways of mass-producing prayers. By 650 AD they were block-printing prayers.
Read more about block-printing
What’s a Buddhist monk?
More about Buddhism in China
Paper reaches Japan, Korea, and Iran
An early playing card (Ming Dynasty, ca. 1500 AD)
Even after people in China began to use paper, it took another thousand years before people were using paper all over Eurasia. By the 400s AD, people in India were also making paper, and by the 600s paper had reached Korea and Japan too.
The Gupta Empire in India
Early Medieval Japan
History of Korea
With the expansion of the Islamic Empire into Pakistan about 700 AD, people in the Abbasid Caliphate also began to use paper.
What’s the Abbasid Caliphate?
For the traders of the Silk Road, paper had a big advantage: it absorbed ink, so you couldn’t erase it. On papyrus, the ink sat on top of the surface and you could just wash it off. But erasing left marks on paper. That made forgery harder. Bankers and businesses started to require paper for contracts.
Read more about the Silk Road
Paper, books, and movable type
At first traders bought their paper from China, Central Asia, and India. But by 800 AD Islamic manufacturers were making their own paper.
Paper in medieval Egypt
As paper reached West Asia, people began to make it into books, instead of the scrolls that people used in China and India.
The history of books
That plan spread eastward, and by about 1000 AD, people were making books even in China and India. To go with the new book format, printers in China invented movable wooden type.
Read more about the history of printing
China under the Song Dynasty
Gutenberg Bible
History of paper in Europe
Europeans were still using parchment, or buying paper at high prices from Egypt. But that soon changed. By 1250 AD, Egyptian paper-making technology reached Italy, and the Italians made good paper and sold it all over Europe.
Italy in the Middle Ages
Then the Black Death wrecked the paper industry in Egypt. In 1338, French monks began to make their own paper. Europeans used water wheels (destroying salmon runs) to power paper mills, so they could make paper more cheaply.
Read more about the Black Death
And more about water wheels
By the 1350s, Europeans were selling paper (along with other things like sugar and sewing thimbles) to people in North Africa and Mamluk Egypt and West Asia.
When did people start to eat sugar?
What’s the history of sewing?
By 1411 – nearly a millennium and a half after it was invented – people in Germany began to produce their own rag paper out of linen rags. Once they had learned to make paper, they became more interested in also learning about Chinese printing, and a man called Gutenberg produced the first printed Bible in 1453.
Read more about linen
(This rag paper was still much more expensive than modern paper, which is made from wood with chemicals added).
An Aztec book, or codex (ca 1500 AD)
Paper invented in Mexico
By this time, people in the country of the Aztec (modern Mexico) had also, independently, invented paper. Their paper was made out of agarve plant fibers, and people used it to make books.
Who were the Aztec?
New inventions using paper
Meanwhile, in China people were using paper in more and more different ways. They were using paper for kites (650 AD), playing cards (800 AD), folding fans (1100s AD), and even, by the 1300s, for toilet paper!
Read more about the history of playing cards
What’s the history of fans?
Did you find out what you wanted to know about the history of paper? Let us know in the comments!
This helped me with my history paper so thank you for that, but I wish you gave more info on how paper was made and what it was made out of etc. Thank you
it dosent help me i can find who first did it and i am in 3rd grade
The citation information is at the end of the article, in a box.
this article was really helpful for my report so thank you.
Thanks! If your school/teacher/prof has a class webpage, we’d love to be mentioned on it so other students can find us!
carr you have been on the website for 3 years
[…] oh why are companies nonetheless counting on a know-how that was invented round 100BC when we have now entered an period of synthetic intelligence, 3D printing, and digitized […]
This is an amazing website, Ms. Carr. I needed this for Social Studies project on the most important ancient Chinese invention. Great tool! I’ll use this more often!
Thank you, Hayden! If you want to help more students find this website, please tell someone at your school who has a links page – your teacher? the librarian? If they link to us, more people will find us, that would be a huge help!
[…] To start with, around 100 B.C., the Chinese invented paper from hemp. They later began to use tree bark, bamboo, and other plant […]
Thanks! I needed this for Social Studies.?
Who is the publisher of this website?
The website is a small independent one; the publisher is Quatr.us Study Guides.
[…] the same time, major advances were occurring in East Asia. Paper was invented around 100 AD in China. One use of this invention was to create more trustworthy contracts when trading; papyrus […]
thank for this
This has erased my curiosity thank you
Wow more information than I ever expected. China is so awesome in our history. Hemp who knew? Wondering if the paper companies wasn’t also behind the downfall of pot plants.
I don’t think so; paper companies would have been happy to make hemp paper, if it was cheaper than wood paper. I don’t know which is more sustainable?
This is AMAZING!!!!!!!
Thank you, Grace! If you want to help us out, we’d love to have you as a Patron on our Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/quatr_us
[…] is one of the oldest human inventions, dating from 2nd Century BCE. And it is one of the easiest to make. All one needs […]
this website is so bad the font is terrible
Sorry! We’re working on a redesign now.
Hater
Thanks I used this for a project.
I have known for my reasearch project but thank you for my project
Is your website is a secondary source or primary sources?
Where do your details from?
Hi Jake! This is a secondary source. A primary source is one that was created at the time that the event happened, like if the man who invented paper had written a diary entry about it that day. We don’t really have any primary sources for the history of paper; the closest we get is early Chinese historians, but they are difficult to read and interpret.
The details in this article are from books about the history of paper. You can get most of the same information from the books in the bibliography listed at the end of the article, if you want to check.
Thanks for all the help on my project
Thanks, c! I’m glad you liked it. If you have a teacher or a librarian who could link to us, that would really help other students to find this site and we’d super appreciate it! Good luck with your project!
thank you fir the time of my life I have been up all night and finally found one at 11:00 at inght
Thank you! I’m glad we could help! If there’s a teacher or library site you could point us out to, so they’d link to us, that would be super appreciated!
Thankyou for sharing a great article!
It took me 2 hours to find a good site for my project and I finally found a good site. Thank you so much Karen Carr. It helped me a lot.
Wonderful! I’m glad we could help, Kerry. I hope you bookmarked us, so you can use this site next time you need a history site! And may I suggest you tell your teacher, and then they can tell other students so it won’t take them so long to find something useful? That would help us out a lot!
Thanks for the help
You’re welcome, Joy!
u guys are helpful :)
Good Day Dr. Carr,
I thought thought that I had heard or read somewhere that the Chinese had actually refined paper-making from a process that had been used by the Yuchu’eh or some other people to their west, for the purposes of making ‘light screens’; this was the same technology that developed into the paper walls used later in Japan.
I’d certainly be interested to hear more about that, if you find the reference! I can’t even find any reference to the Yuchu’eh people – do you mean the Jurchen? Could it be in Mark Kurlansky’s book about paper? I haven’t read that yet, but I’d like to.
Do you know why he invented it?
That’s in the first paragraph of this article, John :)
you did not help but thanks for trying
So sorry, Allie! What were you trying to find out?
really helpfull for me thank u
very helpfull
Nice information it helped me a lot thx
Thank you so much you helped me with my humanities project your the best ???????
good job
Thanks for this!!! Its very useful for my upcoming project after ma vacation
I AM DOING PAPER FOR HIGH_SCHOOL FOR HISTORY YEAR 7
me toooooo
thank you so much
Thx professor Carr this really helped me
Hey, I live in Vancouver WA, So close to where you teach!
Yes, just across the river from me! Pleased to meet you, neighbor!
who’s the author?
The citation info is all right below the article, above this comment section.
Thank you MS Carr,
This information really helped me with my assignment task about ancient China and it’s inventions
That’s actually Professor Carr, not Ms. Carr, but I’m glad we could help!
Hi Ms Carr .?? Thank you soooooo much . This was the only website I could find info on paper history . I am doing a speech on paper in the past and this article was very helpful. Other than any other website this was the best .I can tell you worked hard into this article since it is very detailed and creative.????I hope you continue to create more of these fantastic articles .thanks to you I am in round 2 of the speech competition in my class . You completely saved my grade ???? I can’t thank you enough for what you have done for me. P.S I am only 10 years old . My sincerest regards Shoaib
Thanks, Shoaib. I’m glad we could help. Good luck with your speech!
wat the times
Paper was invented around 100 BC, and people started to use it a lot in China around the 500s or 600s AD. So it took a while to catch on!
hi
thanks for help
I already know who invented paper stupid and his name is not tsai lun it is 蔡 伦
That’s just the same thing in Chinese.
Wow, just the perfect website my teacher says she needs us to use ONLY for our project. Just the perfect opposite of Wikipedia (which my teacher also noted NEVER to use, since anyone can edit it). I’m very proud of you! Keep up the amazing work, Ms. Carr. (BTW I’m in 6th grade)
Thanks, Jennifer! That’s very kind. Good luck with your project!
Thks for helping
You’re welcome!
thx for the information
thx this was a lot of help
I don’t know how to cite this and I live in California so out citing is different.
The citation info is at the bottom of every article. Citation is the same everywhere: the details of formatting can be different, but your responsibility to help your reader know where you got your information is always the same.
Sorry I mean Ts’ai stupid auto correct…
We don’t really know for sure – we don’t have that much information about it – but I think he was trying to make paper, because a lot of scientists were trying to improve writing materials. Lots of people wanted better writing materials, so it was an important area of research.
Was Thai looking for clothes or looking to make paper?
hi
you greatly helped me out with me project! Thanks a lot
Is this information true?
Yes. If you want to check, you can read the books listed at the end of the article.
Thank you for this you helped me a LOT with my project!
You’re welcome, Trent! Delighted to hear it!
Thanks this was a big help for my project!
yea ur awsome, thx so much u saved my grade
Yay! But I’m sure it was mostly your own work, Luke!
hi :) <3
thank u this was so helpful for my school project :)
You’re welcome! Don’t hesitate to ask if you have any questions.
Hey thanks for the help for a school project! :D
Happy to help, Evan! Good luck with your project!
dude this was verry helpful thx
You’re very welcome!
Thank you so much Professor Carr!! I am going to report about how paper is made and I need the history of how paper was invented. This was such a big help! :)
Oh, wonderful! I’m glad we could help. Good luck with your project!
Me too! It really helped me on a school research assignment about the invention and impact of paper. Thank you a lot for making this helpful article
Thanks! I used this for research for my class! This was very helpful! :)
Wonderful! I’m so happy to hear it. Thanks for taking the time to let us know.
thanks for the help
You’re welcome!
Thanks so much mucho gracias luv ya
Do you know what the chinese used it for?
Yes, there’s a list of things people in China used paper for in the last paragraph of the article.
do you know spanish
I can read it but I don’t speak it very well. Why?
yo me llama esperanzo
Yes, that’s right! What a pretty name!
ure awsime
Thanks!
Hy iym hope
Hi Hope!
Thx for the help i needed this info for class and you guys realy helped me fiigure it ouy
You’re welcome! Thanks for stopping by!