Paper and Chinese Culture
They say that paper was invented in China. In fact, they say that paper was invented in the year 105 by a man called Cai Lun. He lived in Shaanxi province during the Han dynasty almost 1900 years ago.
Here is a picture of a traditional hand-craft paper mill in China.
Maybe you don't think that paper is very important. After all, today people can communicate by e-mail.
In fact, we don't even have to write things down at all. Today people use the phone.
Maybe next year we will talk to our computers and not do any typing.
Personally I believe that paper is very important. Why? Because I am a professor, and I teach courses about the technology of papermaking. People in the United States use more paper than any other country in the world. A typical resident of the United States uses about 800 pounds of paper products in one year. However, someone living in Shaanxi province in China nowadays uses about 55 pounds of paper in one year.
In my opinion, paper has had a huge influence on Chinese culture. For instance, if paper had not been invented, then Chinese writing might look like this.
This was the form of writing that was used back when Chinese characters were written on bronze and on pieces of bone. This kind of writing was used in China at least 3000 years ago.
During the Qin dynasty, the nation of China was first beginning to form. This was in the year 221 B.C. The emperor told poople to make a list of list of characters.
The list showed how each character should be formed. The standard form of Chinese writing has been in use for over 2200 years. In fact, it is by far the oldest form of writing that is still in use today.
After the invention of paper, writing became more important. There was just one problem. At first people tried to write on it with the same kinds of implements that they had used when they were writing on bronze. It didn't work.
So people decided to use brushes. When they tried to draw the same kind of bronze-style characters, here is what happened.
So they had to write in a new way. They had to move the brush only from top to bottom, not from down to up.
In 1955 Mao Tsedung had an idea - replace the Chinese writing system. Here is the letter I which he proposed a new type of writing for China - western pinyin.
But he changed his mind.
But there was one problem. Gradually, the Chinese spoken language changed. But the written form of the language resisted change. All languages change. For example, consider the language of Italy. Today the people of Italy speak a language called Italian. But 2000 years ago their ancestors spoke a language called Latin. In Italy they have a special word to describe people who still know how to read Latin writing. They are called "priests."
For over 2000 years, there has been tension between the Chinese spoken language and the language that is written on paper.
Chinese people speak in a modern way, but their writing is influenced more by tradition. Maybe that is why most Chinese people that I know have such a well developed sense of humor. How else can you explain the origin of the word size (big-small)?
And how else can you explain the origin of the word "how much" (much-few)?
Or what about "things" (east-west)?
By learning the Chinese written language you can learn a lot about Chinese culture. I thing that paper and writing have had a big influence on Chinese culture.
I also found some phrases having to do with paper. Perhaps you have heard the phrase "paper tiger" (zhi lao hu).
Perhaps you know someone you is an arm-chair strategist (paper general).
And I think that everyone would like to live a life of luxury and dissipation (another phrase, which in Chinese contains the word "paper").
Many thanks to the following individuals who provided help with this project: Hannah Young, Junhua Chen, Tingfeng Ye. However, all of the mistakes are my own (MH).