FROM TREE TO PULP
The history of paper-making intrigues Khairul Ashraf Kammed
PULI, in Nantou County, Central Taiwan is noted for its papermaking industry. This is due to the region being blessed with pristine water that is essential to the business. To this day, handmade paper from the Puli area is famous throughout Taiwan for its top quality and craftsmanship.
It is said that handmade papermaking was introduced in Taiwan during the Japanese occupation in 1935. During its glory days from the 1980s to the 1990s, Taiwan’s handmade papers were exported to Japan and Korea.
During the industry’s prime, there were more than 50 factories in Puli. But after 1990, many factories closed due to a scarcity of skilled workers, demand of high wages and problems in sourcing raw materials.
However, in 1994, there was a call to promote the paper industry for tourism and educational purposes. Currently, only the Kuang Shing Paper Factory opens its doors to visitors and tourists. It offers courses in calligraphy, printing and paper making as well as DIY (do it yourself) activities for visitors such as paper fan and lantern making.
As paper-making is one of the four great inventions by the Chinese apart from the compass, gun powder and printing, visiting the factory is a great way to witness master papermakers creating beautiful works.
On the grounds is a souvenir shop that sells unique gifts related to Chinese calligraphy and the different types of paper. There are also edible paper-biscuits that make great souvenirs for friends and family.
The production of paper at Kuang Shing Papermaking Factory is modelled after Japanese handmade papermaking. However it is different from the many small-scale Japanese papermaking workshops.
The screening process that the Taiwanese factory employs to produce its handmade paper is partly mechanised. The pulp is cast by machine towards the deckle and mould held by the worker.
In contrast, Japanese artisans will beat the materials manually before putting the pulp into the keta (papermaking mould) and the su (flexible screen) is cast down multiple times into a vat (open body of water).
To prevent the long fibres of the raw material such as kozo from being caught up in the mechanism, the fibres are shortened before screening.
Paper for calligraphy and Chinese painting is developed from water bamboo skin called Xifuxuan (cherish fortune paper) that is mixed with other fibres. All raw materials have been chemically bleached.
PULP FICTION
Paper is originally used as a writing material to replace animal pelt, tree barks, stone slabs and even the papyrus parchments discovered by the Egyptians (which is the closest form before paper was invented and how its name was derived from).
Paper was invented in China during the reign of emperor Ho-Ti (Han Dynasty) in 100 BC. Court official Ts’ai Lun was inspired by the technique of bark cloth making using mulberry bark.
He combined grounded mulberry bark and hemp rags (some sort of marijuana plant) with water before giving it a severe thumping. Water is pressed out before the leftover substance, which is what we now know as paper, is left to dry in the sun. However, it was only after a 1,000 years that the other parts of Eurasia picked up this technology.
People in India were also making paper by 400 AD while by 800 AD, Islamic manufacturers were making their own paper after initially importing them from China, Central Asia and India. During this era, the Muslims have now compiled writings into books instead of scrolls that were widely used in China and India.
The Europeans, who had been relying on the Egyptians for their writing materials, only got hold of the paper making technology in 1250 AD.
By then, the Chinese were also using paper for other purposes such as kites, lanterns and playing cards. In France, the monks also created their own paper in 1338. In the 1350s, Europe became one of the largest exporters of paper to North Africa, Egypt (Its paper industry was destroyed by the Black Death, a pandemic disease during the 14th century which affected many countries) and West Asia.
About a millennium and a half later, the German adopted the Chinese printing technology and Johannes Gutenberg printed the first bible in 1453. The Aztecs in South America also managed to create paper at this time using fibre from the agave plant.
Nowadays, paper is widely used, from food packaging to reading materials to toilet rolls and more. Yet we tend to forget that the more paper we use, the more trees will be cut down.