Paper The magic of paper Paper moon Commentary

Cai Lun manufacturing

Paper

• The English word for paper
• is from the Egyptian paparus
• which served the same purpose as paper,
• but not as light, durable, or flexible.
• The Chinese word for paper, zhĭ,
• means “silk from plant fibers.”
• Cai Lun introduced paper and papermaking to replace
• tablets of bone or bamboo, which were heavy,
• and silk, which was expensive.
• He taught how to separate, in water, fibers
• from hemp, rags, and the inner bark of mulberry trees
• and to pour this through a woven cloth
• to leave a thin mat of fibers to be pressed and dried.

The magic of paper

• Because of paper
• literacy and literature
• in China blossomed.
• In medieval Europe
• scholasticism
• and the reformation.

Paper moon

• Paper kite
• Paper crane
• Paper moon