Long, long ago, a very smart man named Cai Lun from China invented paper! 🌏✨ He made it around 2,000 years ago (in the year 105 AD). Before paper, people wrote on heavy things like stones or animal skins. Cai Lun used tree bark, old rags, and fishing nets to make thin, light sheets. Now we can draw, write, and make books easily!
Paper is super useful, and we still use it today! 📝
Cai Lun, a Chinese official, invented paper around 105 AD during the Han Dynasty. 🏯 Before paper, people wrote on bamboo, silk (which was expensive!), or carved words into bones and stones. Cai Lun mixed tree bark, hemp, old rags, and even fishing nets with water, mashed it into pulp, and pressed it into thin sheets. This made writing and sharing ideas much easier!
Paper spread slowly across the world, reaching Europe about 1,000 years later. Today, we use paper for books, art, and even packaging!
Cai Lun (50–121 AD), a eunuch official in China’s Han Dynasty, is credited with inventing modern papermaking around 105 AD. 🏮 Earlier, the Chinese wrote on bamboo slips (heavy!) or silk (expensive!). Cai Lun refined a process using mulberry bark, hemp, rags, and fishnets, which were soaked, boiled, mashed into pulp, then pressed and dried into sheets. This was cheaper, lighter, and more durable.
Paper revolutionized knowledge-sharing, spreading via the Silk Road. By the 8th century, Arabs learned papermaking from Chinese prisoners, bringing it to Europe by the 12th century. Without paper, books, newspapers, and education would look very different today!