CHINESE’ DISCOVERY

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 142, 12 March 1938, Page 8 (Supplement)

CHINESE’ DISCOVERY

Invention of Paper In the year 75 A.D. a man sat at the foot of a tree and watched a wasp building its nest. A thought was germinated. an'd out it developed the paper industry—one of the largest industries in the world to-day. That man was Tsai Dun, the inventor of paper. He made his first sheets of paper from fibrous pulp obtained from the bark of the mulberry tree, and later progressed to making paper from old fishing-nets and rags. For 650 years the Chinese were the sole makers of paper, and they realised the immense importance of their invention, keeping the art a secret for nearly seven centuries. In the middle of the Sth century, when the Chinese invaded Turkistau, the Arabs captured a number of professional paper-makers and forced them to disclose the art in order to avoid slavery. Mills were established, and Samarkand became the centre of the world’s paper industry. The Arabs took the art with them to Europe, but it was long before it found its way to the various countries. A large number of mills were eventually established in Italy in the 14th century, and this paved the way for, and gave impetus to. the invention of printing. To-day China has to import hetpaper from abroad.