In the history textbook, Cai Lun's name is not small. He is the founder of the four major inventions of papermaking in ancient China, and his contribution is so great that it can be said that he changed the writing habits of the ancients and had a decisive impact on world culture.
The Book of the Later Han Dynasty records that "since the ancient book Qiduo was compiled with bamboo jane, it was called paper by those who used it." Expensive and simple, it is not convenient for people. Lun nai made up his mind, using the skin of the tree, the hemp head, the cloth, and the fishing net as paper. Yuan Xing played in the first year, the emperor was good at his ability, and he could not use it, so the world was called 'Cai Hou Paper'. ”
During the Qin and Han dynasties, most of the writings of the ancients were bamboo janes, and we can also see from the records of Sima Qian's writing of historical records. However, at that time, there was a thing called "silk", and the ancients called it paper. It is very lightweight, but it is relatively expensive and the average person cannot afford to use it.
Later, Cai Lun had a whim, and invented paper by mixing together bark, hemp heads, rotten cloth and fishing nets. When the emperor found out, he was very appreciative and let the whole world begin to imitate it, which was also called "Caihou paper".
Wen Shijun also remembers that when he was a child, he was also introduced in the history textbook. The credit for China's great cross-era papermaking is attributed to Cai Lun. However, an archaeological discovery of the last century has upended this understanding.
This archaeological discovery is the discovery of the famous Hanging Spring Site. The site of The Hanging Springs, located in today's Dunhuang City, Gansu Province, was excavated by archaeologists for three years from 1990 to 1992. A total of more than 70,000 cultural relics have been excavated, including 35,000 Hanjian and 23,000 with writing.
The most amazing thing is that this archaeology also unearthed 9 pieces of Chinese paper with writing. Scholars have found that these papers belong to the Western Han Wu and Zhao Emperor periods, and judging from the folding traces, it is likely that they were used to wrap medicinal materials.
This discovery predates Cai Lun's papermaking by more than 200 years. Therefore, the papermaking technique of the four great inventions in ancient times was not actually from cai lun, who at best improved its craftsmanship. It is expected that the current history textbooks should all be corrected.
Discover through the understanding of paper culture. There are three main families of ancient paper, namely: hemp paper, leather paper and bamboo paper.
The so-called "hemp paper" is made of hemp fiber made of rags, fishing nets and the like, this kind of paper is very rough, there are often tree roots and grass stems inside, not very suitable for writing, wrapping things can also be, this should be the paper in the ruins of the hanging spring.
The so-called "leather paper" is made of bark, compared to hemp paper, leather paper is much better, which is most likely the paper after Cai Lun's transformation. Leather paper is often processed with tough hub (gu) bark, and hub trees are widely distributed throughout the country.
Bamboo paper, which is made of the stalk fibers of tender bamboo, appeared around the Tang Dynasty and was the best in terms of cost and texture.
Back to the point, in addition to talking about Cai Lun's "papermaking" today, I also want to share some of his human stories with you.
Even if it is said that papermaking is not Cai Lun's first initiative, his improvement of paper is also indispensable. From the emperor's praise for him, it can be seen that he should be an outstanding talent. Not really. He was not only a eunuch, but also a bad eunuch.
Cai Lun, a native of the Eastern Han Dynasty, guiyang county. Emperor Yongping of Hanming entered the imperial palace in the last year, and was later promoted to zhongchang attendant because of his merits to the empress, and later promoted to Shangfang Ling, ranking ninth secretary, very powerful. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, eunuch hegemony was more common, which was also the root cause of the demise of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The Eastern Han Dynasty was also divided into three kingdoms because of the Ten Constant Attendants.
Cai Lun does not distinguish between good and evil and is dependent on foreign relatives
During the Reign of Emperor Zhang and Emperor He of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Dou's relatives covered the sky with their hands, and Cai Lun not only knelt down to lick them, but also helped to do evil.
Emperor Zhangdi's empress Dou shi did not give birth to a son, and the Song sisters in the harem gave birth to the eldest son Liu Qing, who was made crown prince, and Empress Dou wanted to fight for power and seize the throne, so she made all kinds of disturbances in the palace and framed the Song sisters.
She often fanned the flames in Emperor Hanzhang's ear and brought down the Song sisters in this way. At this time, she still did not understand the hatred, and sent Cai Lun to torture, Cai Lun in order to please Empress Dou, do not distinguish between right and wrong, but also tried his best to frame the Song Guiren sisters, and finally the two sisters were forced to helpless, had to drink and kill themselves.
Cai Lun was narrow-minded and eliminated other parties
In addition to this, there is one more thing that Cai Lun did was also despicable. According to historical records, at that time, there was a man named He Chang in the imperial court, who was just and righteous, and when Dou's foreign relatives came in turmoil, He Chang often bravely fought against the Dou Xian brothers, because Cai Lun was an accomplice of the Dou family, and He Chang also despised Cai Lun. So Cai Lun's "deep regret" is a very hateful meaning.
Later, He Changyin took a sick leave and was met by Cai Lun for outside activities. Cai Lun finally found the opportunity to fight back, saying that He Chang was a fraudulent disease, which did not take the emperor and the empress dowager in his eyes. So He Chang was dismissed and relegated to his hometown until his death.
In the "Biography of the Five Elements" and "The Biography of Zhou Zhang", Cai Lun also received bad reviews:
"It is the time when Zheng Zhong, Cai Lun, and so on are all adhering to the power of Yu Zheng, and Zhang Shujin is blunt." "It was Emperor Shihe and Zhongchang's attendant Zheng Zhongzong who plotted to seize the power of the Dou clan, and Dezhi, because of his appointment, and The lucky Chang attendant Cai Lun, the two of them began to use power together."
The heavenly path is reincarnated, and good and evil are finally discerned. The emperors of the Eastern Han Dynasty changed, and later it was the turn of the Song noble grandson Emperor An of Han to ascend the throne. As soon as Emperor Han'an ascended the throne, he began to overturn the case for the Song nobles. Cai Lun, as the culprit of the whole incident, was also sent to prison.
"To be humiliated is to bathe in a full robe and drink medicine and die." In the end, Cai Lun was afraid of being humiliated by the small official, so he took a bath and straightened out his clothes, drank a cup of poisonous wine and died. It is also a decent ending.
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