History › Classical age › Han dynasty
Papermaking
c. 2nd century BC; improved by Cai Lun, AD 105· Invention or discovery· Asia
Mostly agreedGood evidence; some details, dates or numbers uncertain.
Paper, made by pulping plant fibers into thin sheets, was invented in Han China and spread across the world over 1,500 years.
See it on the History map →What happened
Hemp-fiber paper fragments from Western Han sites such as Fangmatan date to the 2nd century BC; one carries a map. In AD 105 the palace official Cai Lun presented an improved recipe using bark, hemp, rags and old fishing nets, and is traditionally called the inventor. Paper was cheaper than silk and lighter than bamboo slips. It reached Korea and Japan by about 600, the Islamic world in the 700s, and Europe by the 1100s.
Why it matters
Cheap writing material made bureaucracy, libraries and later printing possible; without paper, the printing press would have had little to print on.
How we know
Dated fragments from dry northwestern sites like Fangmatan and Xuanquan, plus the Book of the Later Han's biography of Cai Lun.
Still debated
Whether the earliest Han paper was made for writing or for wrapping and padding, and who first made it, is unknown.
Connections (3)
▸Han dynasty invented PapermakingWell documented
The connection
Han craftsmen beat hemp and other fibers into pulp, spread it on screens and dried it into sheets. Early paper often wrapped goods; by the AD 100s it was widely used for writing. Cai Lun's improved recipe of AD 105 was promoted at court, and paper gradually replaced bamboo and silk in Chinese offices.
When and how
Han China, 2nd century BC to AD 105; Cai Lun, a palace official at the capital Luoyang.
How we know
Paper from securely dated Han tombs and frontier posts, such as Fangmatan and Xuanquan, predates Cai Lun by centuries; no older paper has been found anywhere.
Debates and open questions
Dates of some early finds, such as the Baqiao paper, are disputed, and exactly what Cai Lun added to methods already centuries old is unclear.
▸Papermaking spread west through Islamic Golden Age (Baghdad's House of Wisdom)Well documented
The connection
Paper, invented in China, reached the Muslim world in the 700s, and Baghdad had a paper mill by about 794. Far cheaper than papyrus or parchment, it let books, government records and libraries multiply. From the Islamic world, papermaking spread to Spain and Sicily and then to Christian Europe.
When and how
Samarkand and Baghdad in the late 700s; Cairo by the 900s; Muslim Spain, at Xàtiva, by the 1100s; Italy's first mills at Fabriano by the 1270s.
How we know
Dated Arabic paper manuscripts, the oldest from the 800s; Arab writers praising Samarkand's paper; the English word 'ream', from Arabic rizma.
Debates and open questions
The popular story that Chinese prisoners taken at the Battle of Talas (751) taught papermaking in Samarkand is probably a legend; paper likely arrived earlier through trade.
▸Papermaking supplied the pages for Gutenberg's printing pressWell documented
The connection
Paper, invented in China, spread through the Islamic world and reached Europe by the 1100s; Italian mills made it cheaply by the 1300s. Parchment from animal skins was costly: one parchment Bible could take the skins of about 170 calves. Cheap paper made mass printing economical, and most Gutenberg Bibles were printed on paper.
When and how
China, about 2nd century BC; Samarkand and Baghdad by the 700s; Spain by the 1100s; Italian mills like Fabriano from the 1200s; Mainz printing about 1450.
How we know
Dated papers and watermarks, mill records, and the Gutenberg Bibles themselves: about three quarters of the original run was printed on paper.
Debates and open questions
How fast paper production grew to meet printers' demand, and how much paper costs limited early print runs, are still being researched.