Fan Ye once said: "Lun has the talent to learn, and is dedicated and cautious." "During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the eunuch Cai Lun, with his outstanding talent, led to the emergence of countless inventions and creations, and his advanced inventions made China lead the millennium and became the admiration and emulation object of all countries in the world.
Although in modern society, China's comprehensive strength lags far behind that of the developed countries in the West, in the ancient society thousands of years ago, China had countless miracle inventions and creations, and with the help of such inventions and creations, it contributed greatly to the construction of the country.
When it comes to the four major inventions of ancient China, I believe that everyone is very familiar with it, and the papermaking technology has helped our country lead the world for thousands of years. In addition, in the life of this inventor of papermaking, he has successfully invented many things. However, the character of this great inventor is not flattering. So, who is the inventor of papermaking? What kind of character does he have?
The inventor of papermaking was Cai Lun, a famous eunuch of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Although Cai Lun was born into a family of iron smelters, and with the craftsmanship of his father, he also had a carefree childhood, however, when Cai Lun was fifteen years old, he decided to accept purification and enter the imperial palace as a eunuch, and the historical data on why Cai Lun made this decision is not clearly answered in historical sources.
In the eyes of many people, the reason why Cai Lun will give up the inheritance of his ancestral craftsmanship is also to create a more brilliant future for himself. After all, in the social context at that time, blacksmiths did not have the opportunity to obtain status promotion, and could only do ordinary work all their lives.
Since entering the harem, Cai Lun has begun to look for a new way out with his flexible mind. In the process of clinging to various powers, Cai Lun's status in the harem continued to rise, from the initial low-level eunuch to a eunuch who could access concubines, princes, and ministers.
As we all know, in the society at that time, Empress Dou had monopolized the government, and during this time, Cai Lun was attached to Empress Dou's men and helped her deal with many problems that were inconvenient to solve in person.
At that time, because Empress Dou had no children under her knees, even if you were empress, it was difficult to ensure that the family's position would be consolidated. For a long time, Empress Dou was troubled by this matter, and eventually, Cai Lun came up with the method of "exchanging tanuki cats for princes" and passing on the sons of other unloved concubines to Empress Dou.
After that, Cai Lun selected the remaining sons of the unfavored Liang Guiren and handed over the infant child to the empress. Immediately afterward, Cai Lun framed the prince's biological mother and completely removed her. It can be seen that during this period, Cai Lun has abandoned the morality that should be a human being for the sake of his own power.
For Empress Dou at that time, Cai Lun was her most powerful assistant, and in the end, with the cooperation of the two, the original crown prince was deposed, and Liu Zhao, the "son" stolen by Empress Dou, was put on the throne when she was only ten years old.
Since then, Empress Dou has unscrupulously controlled the power of the imperial government on the grounds that the emperor is still too young to control the government, and as Empress Dou's most trusted eunuch, Cai Lun has achieved a soaring status and the opportunity to participate in politics.
However, as Liu Zhao grew up, the situation in the DPRK and China also changed. At that time, after Weighing the pros and cons, Cai Lun decided to side with Liu Zhao, helping him to clean up the forces of foreign relatives in the dynasty, and in the end, Empress Dou's clan was completely defeated, and as a hero in the elimination of foreign relatives, Cai Lun was also reused by Liu Zhao.
However, at this time, Cai Lun still felt that his position was unstable, and in the later period, in order to attach himself to Liu Zhao's empress Dowager Deng, Cai Lun threw himself into his favor, hoping to create a more suitable paper for Deng, who loved to write and paint.
Because in the society at that time, papermaking had not yet been improved, so even if Tang Wasui was the empress, he was reluctant to use those expensive papers.
After that, Cai Lun began to devote himself to the invention and improvement of papermaking, and in the end, Cai Lun succeeded in creating a cheap and thin new type of paper, which the Empress was also delighted when he dedicated this paper to Empress Deng.
In fact, in Cai Lun's life, in addition to the invention of paper, he also greatly improved the weapon manufacturing process. With the invention and creation of Cai Lun, the level of weapon manufacturing in China's ancient society has also achieved a steady improvement.
In the social context at that time, the weapons made by Cai Lun had become the object of common pursuit among the generals in the army, and because of this, the comprehensive combat strength of the Eastern Han army had also been improved.
Although in the imperial palace at that time, Cai Lun successfully gained a foothold by virtue of his outstanding ability to observe and observe colors, however, in the whirlpool of political struggle, it was difficult for him to permanently preserve his prominent position. Eventually, in 121 A.D., Cai Lun was liquidated for the wrongs he had done over the years, and he ended his life.
epilogue
In ancient society, it is based on the inventions and creations of Cai Lun and others that the level of development of China's society has achieved further improvement.
Although Cai Lun's character is relatively inferior, in the process of evaluating it, people should also look at the problem dialectically. Without Cai Lun's help, the development of China's subsequent cultural and historical undertakings will also be greatly hindered.
In fact, many historical figures have multi-faceted characteristics, and if we only comment on them on a single aspect, we will cause us to misunderstand the historical figures and fail to truly understand the true face of historical development.
Reference: The Glory and Tragedy of Cai Lun