The Evolution of Paper
Using modern technology to communicate is very significant in the world today. As we know, however, the technology that we are familiar with did not exist in ancient times (American Forest & Paper Association, 2021). The earliest forms of communication consisted of carving and painting illustrations and icons into cavern walls (American Forest & Paper Association, 2021). Approximately 2,000 years ago, Ts’ai Lun, a Chinese courtroom judge, advanced communication significantly by creating the origin of paper (American Forest & Paper Association, 2021). The evolution of paper has gone through multiple stages to be the white sheet it is known as today.
A picture of ancient cave illustrations
The Invention of Paper
Ts’ai Lun was born in Guiyang, China, within the period of the Eastern Han Dynasty (Pettinger, 2017). He held several positions and responsibilities all given to him by the Emperor He of Han (Pettinger, 2017). Following his series of professions, he found a new purpose in an idea that he had (Pettinger, 2017). Lun’s idea was to find various ingredients that, when combined, would form a writing sheet - what we now know as paper (Pettinger, 2017). However, pondering this idea and acting on it did not just happen overnight. Although it may have been complicated, Lun found a way to create it. (Pettinger, 2017). Before he knew it, he would become world-famous and would always be remembered for his success (Pettinger, 2017).
A sketch of Ts'ai Lun
The Paper Making Process
The process of creating paper was discovered as far back as approximately 105 AD (Britt, 2020). Lun came up with a combination of ingredients such as mulberry which comes from trees, torn pieces of textile rags blended with water, and cannabis (Wendorf, 2019). He then took this solution and made it into a pulp, which is a key factor needed to make paper (Wendorf, 2019). Pulp is the main ingredient in the paper-making process because it is what holds the mixture together, when making molds and/or screens of paper (Wendorf, 2019). After the screens are made, they are taken outside to dry and harden into a piece of paper (Wendorf, 2019). To extend on this creation, China did not keep it a secret, as this was a huge improvement for the ancient time that would change the world as it began its travel westward (Britt, 2020). The craft of making paper traveled to a small town called Samarkand in Central Asia, then to Baghdad, Europe, and many more places as time went on (Britt,2020). Skipping through time, in the 1400’s, paper became very popular as the idea of printing came to light, which left people needing and wanting more (Britt, 2020). As paper mills started popping up in Europe in the 1800s, it was hard to afford the materials needed to make paper because it was becoming very costly (Britt, 2020). Due to this, materials were scarce, and they became desperate enough to ask communities to donate items that were needed (Britt, 2020). Furthermore, as time went on and people were more educated on the art of making paper, there were several new findings on how to obtain affordable and more reasonable materials to produce the paper (Britt, 2020). This allowed the manufacturers to make more of this source and produce it faster, as new machinery was also invented by this point (Britt, 2020).
Paper making process in China in the 1400s
The Future of the Paper Industry
The invention of paper was a huge success and is still being used thousands of years later, however, the future of paper and paper products is declining because there are now several online alternatives (Latta et al., 2015). Since the internet offers an abundance of information including newspapers, writings, books, and much more, the demand for paper is going down (Latta et al., 2015). Latta explained how coming up with new ideas and alternatives can either be a good or bad thing for consumers (Latta et al., 2015). In saying this, consumers can either shift towards the new idea, which will, for example, lower the demand for paper, or if they don’t like the other alternative then the demand will not change (Latta et al., 2015). Another factor responsible for the paper market declining is the cost of labor to produce all the paper products (Business Partner Magazine, 2019). To solve this problem, China has started using recycled paper to lower the manufacturing and material costs, which has put them in the lead to grow as suppliers in that region (Business Partner Magazine, 2019). In contrast to China, since the U.S has been shifting to more of an online e-commerce, it has caused an abundance of advertisements to be online (Business Partner Magazine, 2019). This could be challenging for certain individuals that still want paper newspapers, advertisements, magazines, and more. A video source mentioned that since the paper industry in the U.S is declining, the market will go down to roughly a rate of 2.5 percent by this year (Business Partner Magazine, 2019). Not only is the industry declining and more articles are going online, but jobs are declining as well (Matthews, 2016). Without people working in these industries, such as the field of cutting down trees, there will be fewer and fewer jobs for them (Matthews, 2016).
Online alternatives to paper products
Wrap Up
In conclusion, the invention of paper in ancient times has certainly impacted the way society lives. It has given jobs, made an efficient way to communicate, enhanced the world of education, and has made a way of life by using paper (Pettinger, 2017). At the end of Ts’ai Lun’s life, he was forced to go to prison by Consort Song, who was a new emperor in power at the time (Pettinger, 2017). Lun was very frightened for his life and what would happen to him in prison, in which he unfortunately ended up committing suicide (Pettinger, 2017). Although Lun suffered a tragic death, his story and impact did not end there (Pettinger, 2017). He has unsurprisingly made it onto the list of the ‘top one hundred influential people in the world’ and he will always remain the first inventor of paper in history (Pettinger, 2017).
Ts'ai Lun is included in this list
References
American Forest and Paper Association. (2021, July 9). The history of paper. The History of Paper. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.afandpa.org/news/2021/history-paper#:~:text=Before%20paper%20as%20we%20know,record%20their%20drawings%20and%20writings.
Britt, K. W. (2020, January 10). papermaking. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/technology/papermaking
Business Partner Magazine. (2019, October 31). The major reason behind the declining paper market - youtube. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLkJORcE3K8
Latta, G. S., Plantinga, A. J., & Sloggy, M. R. (2015, December 31). Effects of internet use on global demand for paper products. OUP Academic. Retrieved February 11, 2022, from https://academic.oup.com/jof/article/114/4/433/4756795
Matthews, D. (2016, October 13). Sustainability challenges in the paper industry. AIChE. Retrieved February 9, 2022, from https://www.aiche.org/chenected/2016/10/sustainability-challenges-paper-industry
Pettinger, T. (2017, March 23). Cai Lun Biography: Biography Online. Retrieved February 10, 2022, from https://www.biographyonline.net/business/cai-lun.html
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Wendorf, M. (2019, April 25). The history of paper. Interesting Engineering. Retrieved February 6, 2022, from https://interestingengineering.com/the-long-and-complex-history-of-paper#:~:text=Before%20the%20invention%20of%20paper,%2C%20papyrus%2C%20parchment%20and%20vellum.&text=Vellum%20was%20used%20to%20create,other%20areas%20around%20the%20Mediterranean.