Chinese culture has a long history and is one of the only four ancient civilizations in the world. Only 50 million civilizations in China have not been broken. The inheritance of culture is inseparable from words, the inheritance of words is inseparable from books, and because of the emergence of paper, it is easier to write words into books!
We know that the largest text carrier tool in China is the skeleton of animals, of which the main tool used as a text carrier in primitive society is the back shell of the turtle, called the [oracle bone].
Oracle
With the passage of time and the evolution of writing, china already had historical records from the beginning of the Shang Zhou Dynasty, which were recorded by specialized historians. At this time, he invented the method of recording text on bamboo chips or wood chips (collectively referred to as bamboo simple here). At this time, the text is seal body, so this way of writing is called - [seal carving].
By the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, the use of bamboo jane had become common. Basically everything that needs to be used for written records will use this method, and in many film and television dramas, bamboo jane is used to write and read pictures. Combining bamboo strips with ropes of multiple recorded texts, they become a book. However, this kind of book is very bulky, and it is inconvenient to read, carry, and save. In ancient times, it was used to describe a person with high learning because when there were many books, it was necessary to use a car to pull.
The Qin general Meng Tian .e
At the end of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when the Qin general Meng Tian was guarding the north of the town, he saw the Xiongnu drawing with animal hair dipped in paint, and at the same time the battle situation in the front was urgent, so he changed the seal to carve bamboo and write military information from silk scrolls. It became famous and was recorded in the annals of history by historians, so the later generations of pen-making industry honored MengTian as the ancestor. And the way it is written in silk scrolls is called the "Warring States Book".
Warring States Book - The text is written on cotton or by
In some novels about tomb robbery, there are more descriptions in the Warring States Book, which are basically described as top cultural relics. For this cultural relic, all parties fought hard and competed to grab it.
However, the use of cotton or silk to record the text was still only used by the royal nobility at that time. Ordinary people still could only use the bamboo method, after all, the ordinary people at that time could buy a dress made of cotton cloth.
As the wheels of history continue to move forward, when people make silk wool from silkworm cocoons, they find that on the mats containing silkworm cocoons, a thin layer of sheets will be left for writing. Archaeologists have found that in the Western Han Dynasty more than 2,000 years ago, people already knew how to use sackcloth to make paper. But hemp paper is rough and not easy to write.
So when did papermaking in the true sense of the word appear?
About 1,900 years ago, in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a man named Cai Lun who absorbed the experience accumulated by people for a long time and improved the art of papermaking. He cut or cut off raw materials such as bark, hemp, straw, rags, etc., and soaked them in water and mashed them into pulp; Then the pulp is fished out and dried, and it becomes a kind of paper that is both light and easy to use. Paper made in this way, raw materials are easy to obtain, can be manufactured in large quantities, the price is cheap, can meet the needs of most people, so this papermaking method has been passed down. This way of making paper is also the basic process of our modern papermaking. Papermaking then spread to the Korean Peninsula and Japan around China, and later to the Arab world and Europe.
The three conditions of easy access to raw materials, cheap prices, and meeting demand can make paper enter thousands of households.
Papermaking technology (picture from the Internet, infringement must be deleted)
It is precisely because the use of paper to carry the writing of words is easy to load into books, easy to carry, and storage does not occupy a place. It makes it more convenient to preserve the text and inherit the culture.
It is precisely because of books to record our history and record our Chinese civilization, which has a long history and is endless. Let us have the opportunity to learn about our history and learn from history.
With the development of science and technology, computer technology appeared. Many books and texts are carried by electronic records. So I have a problem here – over time, historical development. Will the use of paper as a way of carrying words eventually die?
Everyone is invited to participate in the discussion.