China is the origin paper. The paper carried a message the oldest known to date, was also discovered in China and is dated from -8 BC, Dynasty Western Han (-206 BC-25 AD) . This is a fragment of a letter which paper is made from flax fibers, on which a score of old sinograms have been deciphered. It was found in 2006 in Dunhuang, in Gansu Province, and was dated in terms of other written documents found in the same location of the search.
According to Chinese tradition, it was thought that the paper had appeared in the third century BC, during the reign of Qin Shi Huang (founder of the Qin Dynasty). Telling a story that people would then have spotted the white deposits of foam on the rocks following the floods and have tried to reproduce it.
According to another Chinese tradition, this is Cai Lun, minister of agriculture, at 105, would have codified for the first time the art of manufacturing paper and would have improved technology to mass produce it.
The secret of making paper quality will remain Chinese (and Japanese) to the eighth century. At the Battle of Talas in 751, legend has it that the Arabs, victorious, made prisoners of many Chinese and recovered the secret. It is likely that they knew the use of paper well before that date and they used it themselves after well starched and polished. They quickly realize the value of this new medium to propagate Islam, and Samarkand will be the first production center in the Muslim world. Otherwise they will improve manufacturing by incorporating its preparation rags. The paper will arrive later then in the West with the Arab conquests.
paper cut into photo is available at the store RUYI:
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