Zhang Shu's "Old Stories of Sanfu" in the Jin Dynasty recorded: "Prince Wei Dabi. Emperor Wu was ill, and the prince went to the province. Jiang Yun said: 'If you hate Dabi, you should hold a paper to cover his nose and come in.'" Liu Che, the direct descendant of Emperor Wu of t

The dispute over historical materials

Looking at ancient documents, there are many records of the use of "paper" in the Han Dynasty.

Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty Liu Huan's favorite concubine Zhao Feiyan

Zhang Shu (shù) of the Jin Dynasty recorded in "Old Stories of Sanfu": "Prince Wei Dabi. Emperor Wu fell ill and the prince entered the province. Jiang Yun said: 'If you hate Dabi, you should hold on to it. Cover his nose with paper. '" Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Liu Che's eldest son, Crown Prince Wei According to Liu, had a big nose. He wanted to see his father who was suffering from sores and pus. Jiang Chong②, who had always had a quarrel with the prince, provoked: "The emperor doesn't like your nose, you should cover it with paper." The prince covered his nose with paper, pretending to be like an abducted son. Then Jiang Chong replied to Emperor Wu and said: "The prince did not want to smell the stench of His Majesty's pus, so he covered his nose." Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was very angry. This happened in 91 BC.

"Han Shu·Sima Xiangru Biography" records: Sima Xiangru wrote "Hunting Fu" for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. The emperor asked the minister to give Sima Xiangru some pens and letters. Zha, what is it? They are small pieces of wood used for writing in ancient times. Regarding this matter, Yan Shigu, a Confucian scholar and Confucian scholar in the early Tang Dynasty, commented: "There was not much paper used at that time, so some notes were given to write." The implication is that paper was rarely used at that time. But not without paper.

"Hanshu·The Biography of Empress Zhao" records: Zhao Zhaoyi, the sister of Zhao Feiyan, the favored concubine of Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty Liu Huan (wù), wanted to kill Zhao Zhaoyi, the harem official Cao Weineng who was first pregnant with the dragon species and had given birth to a prince and was thrown into prison, under the instigation of The man handed her a small green box and a letter written by Emperor Cheng himself - a letter of He 菏(tí)④. It read: "Dear, there are two packages of medicine in the box. Try to drink it! I (zhèn, the special word for the emperor to call himself) I'm sorry for you. You know what to do."

Added a spoonful to someone's medicine sugar! This is a heartbreaking incident that happened in the first year of Yuanyan, Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty (12 BC). According to scholar yingshao (shào) of the Eastern Han Dynasty, he explained: Hehe means "thin and small paper".

At that time, Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty, who was addicted to wine and sex, could neither protect his beloved concubine nor his flesh and blood in front of the powerful and beautiful Zhao sisters.

According to the current situation, Aifei should be the "mistress". My wife uses the meal ticket system and buys meals at a fixed location, while the mistress uses the meal ticket system and buys food wherever she goes. This love letter written on "paper" is the earliest officially recorded reminder letter in the world, and it is also the highest-level testimony of tragic love. From then on, they were separated from each other and separated from each other.

Ying Shao also said in "Customs of Customs": In the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, when Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu drove from Chang'an to Luoyang, he brought a total of 2,000 carriages of plain materials, bamboo slips, paper and classics. These are the Western Han , including the national books and archives left over from Wang Mang's court and hidden in the Chang'an Palace.

- Some people think that the above list is cocoon paper, that is, silk (bó) paper, not hemp paper .

Prince Wei Liu, the eldest son of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Liu Che, according to

The records of using paper before the last year of Emperor Yongyuan of the Han Dynasty (104) are:

"Book of the Later Han·Jia Kui Biography" records: "In the first year of the founding of Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty (76), The emperor issued an edict to let Jia Kui go to the White Tiger Temple in the Beigong and the Yuntai in the Nangong to give lectures on scriptures... and also gave him a copy of the book "

Historian of the Eastern Jin Dynasty Yuan Hong." "Later Han Ji" ⑤ contains: "In the fourteenth year of Yongyuan (102), Deng was made empress. Empress Deng didn't like to play with pearls and jade, thinking that they were just for her eyes, and she just asked each fiefdom to give her some paper and ink every year. . "

- Some people think that this shows that three years before Cai Lun presented paper, privately produced paper had been presented to the court; about 30 years before Cai Lun made paper, the "Jiu Zhi Jing Zhuan" had also appeared. It is a "new concept" paper. Of course, there are also objections.

In fact, the debate about paper is not a current thing, but has a long history.

During the Tang and Song Dynasties, academic circles put forward another theory on Cai Lun's papermaking.

Tang calligrapher Zhang Huaiguan (guàn) said in " Shujuan": "When the rise of the Han Dynasty , paper replaced bamboo slips. By the time of Emperor He, the paper made by Cai Lun was of higher quality and more workmanship. "

The Southern Song Dynasty scholar Shi Shengzu also said in "Xue Zhai Zhan Bi": "Paper and pens were not only invented by Cai Lun and Meng Tian ... but the quality of the paper made by Cai Lun and the pens made by Meng Tian were better. It was better and more sophisticated in the past. If we say that paper and pen originated from the two of them, we can't think of it this way. Later, the Ming Dynasty scientist Song Yingxing stated in "Tiangong Kaiwu" that Cai Lun was the first to invent paper. Questions have also been raised. He said: "Papermaking has been around since ancient times. It would be biased and short-sighted to say that it was invented by someone in the Han Dynasty or Jin Dynasty." It's not new, nor is it novel. It's just that in modern times it has become more accepted by many people, and the resulting debate has become more intense. Archaeological discoveries have opened a larger gap for the above-mentioned views, and using facts to speak for themselves have also provided a stronger basis for the "suspicious trend of antiquity" since the 20th century. If

is true, we have to rewrite our understanding of paper.

(Forty-five Selections from "Cai Lun's Paper Talk")

(Text/Shalu)

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