Editing Cai Lun (section)

===Development of paper===
{{see also|Papermaking|Science and technology of the Han dynasty}}
[[File:Making Paper.gif|thumb|[[Woodcut]]s depicting the five seminal steps in ancient Chinese [[papermaking]]. From the 1637 ''[[Tiangong Kaiwu]]'' of the [[Ming dynasty]].{{sfn|Provisional Urban Council|Hong Kong Museum of History|1998|p=60}}|alt=A gif of five images of workers completing various manual tasks to create paper]]

In 105, Cai publicly declared that he had invented a new composition for paper with a new papermaking process.{{sfn|Eliot|Rose|2009|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=CFiDCjMcnvcC&dq&pg=PA99 99]}} Writing had a long history in China with writing surfaces being [[bamboo and wooden slips]] (wood for short text and [[bamboo]] for lengthy text).{{sfnm|1a1=Hunter|1a2=Hunter|1y=1978|1p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1sEp3rtK994C&pg=PA48 48]|2a1=Carter|2y=1925|2p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PgEYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA1 1]}} These media were inconvenient as they were awkward to store, heavy, and difficult to write on.{{sfn|Hunter|Hunter|1978|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1sEp3rtK994C&pg=PA48 48]}} After [[Meng Tian]] purportedly created an animal-hair brush for writing in 3rd-century BCE, [[silk]] and [[Textile|cloth]] became alternatives that addressed these issues, but they were too expensive for widespread use.{{sfn|Hunter|Hunter|1978|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1sEp3rtK994C&pg=PA48 48]}} The absence of a practical solution motivated continued experimentation with different materials; Cai's [[Pulp (paper)|pulp]] solution proved the most effective.{{sfn|Carter|1925|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PgEYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA2 2]}} His process still used bamboo, but also introduced [[hemp]] waste, old rags, [[Fishing net|fishnets]], and most importantly, [[Bark (botany)|bark]] from trees (likely [[Morus (plant)|mulberry]]).{{sfnm|1a1=Hunter|1a2=Hunter|1y=1978|1p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1sEp3rtK994C&pg=PA52 52]|2a1=Tsien|2y=1985|2pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Lx-9mS6Aa4wC&pg=PA4 4], 40, 57}} The materials were boiled to a pulp that was beaten with a wood or stone mallet before being mixed with a large amount of water. The resulting mixture was then processed with wooden [[sieve]]s and the excess water removed, leaving the paper finished once dry.{{sfn|Day|McNeil|1996|p=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780415060424/page/122/mode/2up 122]}} The paper that resulted from this method is often referred to as "Cai Hou paper" ({{lang|zh-Hant|蔡侯纸}}).{{sfn|Tsien|1985|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Lx-9mS6Aa4wC&pg=PA295 295]}} This event and its context are relayed in an often cited passage of the {{Transliteration|zh|Hou Hanshu}}:{{efn|English translations of the excerpt are included in {{harvtxt|Carter|1925|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PgEYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3 3]}}, {{harvtxt|Hunter|Hunter|1978|pp=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1sEp3rtK994C&pg=PA50 50], 52}}, {{harvtxt|Tsien|1962|p=[https://archive.org/details/writtenonbamboos0000chie/page/136/mode/1up 136]}} and {{harvtxt|Tsien|1985|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Lx-9mS6Aa4wC&pg=PA40 40]}}.}}
{{Blockquote|
|text=<poem>{{lang|zh|自古書契多編以竹簡，其用縑帛者謂之為紙。縑貴而簡重，並不便於人。倫乃造意，用樹膚、麻頭及敝布、魚網以為紙。元興元年奏上之，帝善其能，自是莫不從用焉，故天下咸称蔡侯紙。}}
In ancient times writings and inscriptions were generally made on tablets of bamboo or on pieces of silk called {{Transliteration|zh|chih}}. But silk being costly and bamboo heavy, they were not convenient to use. Cai Lun then initiated the idea of making paper from the bark of trees, hemp, 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 everywhere and is universally called the "paper of Lord Cai."</poem>
|source={{Transliteration|zh|Hou Hanshu}} 78/68:2513–14<ref group="‡">{{harvtxt|''Hou Hanshu'' (78/68:2513–14)}}: "{{lang|zh-Hant|自古書契多編以竹簡，其用縑帛者謂之為紙。縑貴而簡重，並不便於人。倫乃造意，用樹膚、麻頭及敝布、魚網以為紙。元興元年奏上之，帝善其能，自是莫不從用焉，故天下咸称蔡侯紙。}}"<br />{{harvtxt|Tsien|1962|p=[https://archive.org/details/writtenonbamboos0000chie/page/136/mode/1up 136]}}: In ancient times writings and inscriptions were generally made on tablets of bamboo or on pieces of silk called {{Transliteration|zh|chih}}. But silk being costly and bamboo heavy, they were not convenient to use. Cai Lun then initiated the idea of making paper from the bark of trees, hemp, 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 everywhere and is universally called the "paper of Lord Cai."</ref>
}}

Many legends about the inspiration for Cai's invention exist; one of the most popular said that Cai was inspired by watching [[paper wasp]]s make their nests.{{sfn|Holdstock|2018|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=7-mKDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA101 101]}} Tsien suggested that Cai was inspired by the people of his birthplace, who used bark from mulberry trees to create cloth as a writing surface.{{sfn|Tsien|1985|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=Lx-9mS6Aa4wC&pg=PA4 4]}} Irrespective of its origin, in 105 CE, Cai's new papermaking process both impressed He and earned him fame throughout the empire.{{sfnm|1a1=Hunter|1a2=Hunter|1y=1978|1p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=1sEp3rtK994C&pg=PA52 52]|2a1=Carter|2y=1925|2p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=PgEYAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA3 3]|3a1=Hart|3y=2000|3p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=jvbNRbDKY1wC&pg=PA37 37]}}