Cai Lun Ancient Papermaking Village

Cai Lun Ancient Papermaking Village

About 20 kilometers from Yinjiang County lies Heshui Town, where there is a village nestled against mountains and beside water called Caijiaya. The “Cai Lun Ancient Papermaking Culture Village” is located here.

Along both sides of the river in the village, you can find traditional papermaking tools and utensils, ancient waterwheels, troughs, drying kilns, and over a hundred old workshops. More than a hundred households are engaged in papermaking production, producing about 300 tons of white bark paper annually. This traditional papermaking process is complex, and there’s a saying: “Papermaking is no easy task—seventy-two steps, each requiring effort, plus one more of blowing air.” Visitors can admire this ancient papermaking craft. Cai Lun was from Hunan, and many of the Cai families in Caijiaya village migrated here from his hometown, bringing with them Cai Lun’s ancient papermaking culture, which has been passed down to this day. The local people honor Cai Lun as their ancestral master, enshrine his paper deity tablet at home, and hold commemorative activities for Cai Lun every year on the 19th day of the third lunar month, his birthday.

Why has this ancient papermaking technique been preserved here for so long? It turns out that Yinjiang is also known as the “Hometown of Calligraphy.” The flourishing calligraphy culture has driven the papermaking industry, as the paper produced here is called “white bark paper,” also known as “writing paper.” White bark paper is high-quality paper suitable for both calligraphy and industrial use. It is tough, delicate, soft, white in color, and highly ink-absorbent. Xu Beihong, the famous Chinese painter, used much of this paper for his numerous traditional paintings created during the War of Resistance. White bark paper can also be used for paper umbrellas, window decorations, firecracker fuses, and many other purposes.

Cai Lun

( —121)

A native of Leiyang County, Hunan, during the Eastern Han Dynasty. His courtesy name was Jingzhong, and his birth year is unknown. In the late years of Emperor Ming’s reign, he entered the palace as a eunuch and served as a minor court attendant. During Emperor He’s reign, he became a Central Regular Attendant and began participating in state affairs. He once served as the Director of the Imperial Workshops, in charge of crafting imperial utensils.

In the past, people wrote on silk cloth or bamboo and wooden slips. “Silk was expensive and slips were heavy, making them inconvenient for people.” By the Western Han Dynasty, a primitive form of paper had emerged. People often found a layer on bamboo mats when washing silk floss... Cai Lun detailed information++