Editing Cai Lun (section)

==Sources==
The main source of information on Cai Lun is just 300 characters in volume 78 of the {{Transliteration|zh|[[Book of the Later Han|Hou Hanshu]]}} ({{lang|zh-Hant|後漢書}}; ''Book of the Later Han''), an [[Twenty-Four Histories|official history]] compiled by the [[Liu Song dynasty]] historian and politician [[Fan Ye (historian)|Fan Ye]].{{sfn|Tsien|1962|p=[https://archive.org/details/writtenonbamboos0000chie/page/136/mode/1up 136]}} [[Tsien Tsuen-hsuin]], a modern [[sinologist]], noted that while Fan's account is the most comprehensive, it is problematic as it was written nearly 300 years after Cai's death.{{sfn|Tsien|1962|p=[https://archive.org/details/writtenonbamboos0000chie/page/136/mode/1up 136]}} The primary source Fan used was the 2nd-century ''[[Dongguan Hanji]]'' ({{lang|zh-Hant|東觀漢記}}; ''History of the Eastern Han''),{{sfn|Li|Denecke|Tian|2017|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=tO4wDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA195 195]–[https://books.google.com/books?id=tO4wDgAAQBAJ&pg=PA196 196]}} in which {{ill|延笃|zh|lt=Yan Du}} is credited as the author of Cai's biography.{{sfn|de Crespigny|2007|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=49OvCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA933 933]}} Yan's brief 70-character account is near-contemporary but only survives in a reconstructed state from a lost original.{{sfn|Tsien|1962|p=[https://archive.org/details/writtenonbamboos0000chie/page/136/mode/1up 136]}}<ref group="‡">{{harvtxt|''Dongguan Hanji'' 20/2b}}: "蔡倫字敬仲桂陽人為中常侍有才學盡忠重慎每至休沐輒閉門絶賔客曝體田野典作尚方造意用樹皮及敝布魚網作紙〈案一本作倫典尚方作紙用故麻名麻紙木皮名糓紙魚紙名網紙〉元興元年奏上之帝善其能自是莫不用天下咸稱蔡侯紙"<br />{{harvtxt|Tsien|1962|p=[https://archive.org/details/writtenonbamboos0000chie/page/136/mode/1up 136]}}: "Cai Lun, [[courtesy name]] Jingzhong, a native of {{ill|桂阳郡|zh|lt=Guiyang Commandery}}, served [at the court] as {{ill|中常侍|zh|lt=''Zhongchang shi''}}. He was a man of talent and learning, loyal and careful. When he was off duty, he usually shut himself up and refused to see visitors but exposed himself to nature. When he was charged with the office of {{Transliteration|zh|Shangfang Ling}}, he initiated the idea of making paper from tree bark, old rags and fishing nets. He submitted the process to the emperor in the first year of {{Transliteration|zh|Yuanxing}} [105] and received praise for his ability. From this time, paper has been in use and is universally called the 'paper of Cai Lun'".</ref> Another older source is a brief mention by the 3rd-century scholar Dong Ba, ({{lang-zh|labels=no|c=董巴}}){{sfn|Tsien|1962|p=[https://archive.org/details/writtenonbamboos0000chie/page/137/mode/1up 137]}} who is quoted referencing Cai's papermaking accomplishments in the 10th-century ''[[leishu]]'' encyclopedia {{Transliteration|zh|[[Taiping Yulan]]}} (''Readings of the Taiping Era'').{{sfn|Tsien|1962|p=[https://archive.org/details/writtenonbamboos0000chie/page/137/mode/1up 137]}}{{efn|See {{harvtxt|Tsien|1962|p=[https://archive.org/details/writtenonbamboos0000chie/page/137/mode/1up 137]}} for a full English translation of Dong Ba's account in the {{Transliteration|zh|[[Taiping Yulan]]}} [[:zh:s:太平御覽/0605#紙|605/7a]].}}

Later history books, such as the [[Song dynasty]]'s {{ill|Shiwu Jiyuan|zh|事物紀原|lt={{Transliteration|zh|Shiwu Jiyuan}}}} ({{lang|zh-Hant|事物紀原}}; ''Compound Source of Matters and Facts''), also include Cai and his work in papermaking.{{sfn|Barrett|2011|p=203}} However, some major history books, such as the ''[[Annals of the Later Han]]'' and ''{{Transliteration|zh|[[Zizhi Tongjian]]}}'' (''Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance'') do not mention Cai's papermaking achievements.{{sfn|Barrett|2011|p=203}}{{efn|While Cai's contributions to the papermaking process are not included in the ''{{Transliteration|zh|[[Zizhi Tongjian]]}}'', it did make multiple brief references to Cai's political activities in volumes [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷049|49]] and [[:zh:s:資治通鑑/卷050|50]].<ref>[[#CITEREFSIMAGUANG|''Zizhi Tongjian'' 49, 50]]</ref>}} Sinologist T. H. Barrett suggested this was because "Cai Lun was, after all, a palace [[eunuch]], precisely the sort of person normally viewed with antagonism by the regular bureaucrats who controlled the writing of official (and even most unofficial) history."{{sfn|Barrett|2011|p=203}}