PAPER

There’s a lot more to paper than meets the eye. People have been using paper since the day the Chinese discovered it .The invention of paper meant major changes in China and the rest of the world. Paper has become more important over the years. It is needed to make books, documents, receipts and many other things we use in our everyday lives. Despite the many technological advances, an efficient replacement for paper has not yet been found.

The first sheet of paper created was traced to china in the year of 105AD. A court official called Ts’ai Lun mixed fishnets, bark, old rags, wheat stalks and other fibres, which was then left to dry. The result was a relatively cheap, light, thin and durable material, which could be written on.

Before the invention of paper the Chinese used bamboo strips, wooden strips, shoulder plates of oxen and silk to write on. Silk was light but very expensive so it wasn’t commonly used. Most Chinese wrote on bamboo or wooden strips, as they weren’t very expensive. However bamboo and wooden strips were very heavy, making it a hassle to carry around. The first emperor had to usually use about 120 kilograms of bamboo and wooden strips every day. The invention of paper meant that heavy wooden and bamboo strips did not have to be used, which made many peoples’ lives easier. The invention of paper gave the Chinese the idea of paper money. At the time it was invented paper money had no real significance as most people used coins or exchanged precious metals. Paper money is now used in many countries, as it is convenient to carry around in comparison to carrying around lots of coins.

Paper slowly spread around the globe. By 1150AD paper had spread to most of Europe. Methods of making paper developed and paper became more efficient. By 1978, paper making machines were doing the jobs humans were once doing. Thus, paper became even more efficient.

In recent times paper has become very important. People around the world use about 218 million tonnes of paper every year. Paper is needed for many things such as printing. People print hundreds of pages everyday. How would they print without paper? Printing on bamboo or wooden strips would be very difficult and slow even with the high-speed printers that are currently in use.

Producing books also requires paper. Books made out of paper are usually heavy but they are cheap to make. Making books using bamboo or wooden strips would be very hard. In addition to this the books would also be quite heavy. Paper is also used for gift-wrappings. It is also used to make envelopes. Many people also read the newspaper, which is made out of paper.

Paper is becoming increasingly important as the years go by. A life without paper is very hard to imagine. If the Chinese hadn’t invented paper the world would be a very different place.

Bibliography

Britannica CD 2000

China Tradition and Transformation

World Book Encyclopaedia 2000

http://www.encarta.com

http://www.wcsu.k12.vt.us/~newfane/4inventions/1_great_invention.htm

Acknowledgement

I would like to thank Ms Berger introducing me to this assignment from which I have learnt a lot about the history and importance of paper.