Paper with characters written on it (Western Han Dynasty )

China was the first country in the world to invent paper. The earliest paper made from hemp fibers appeared during the 2nd century.

Even before the end of the ancient times, China had already mastered the technology of raising silkworms and filature. During the Qin (221-206 BC) and Han (206BC -220AD) dynasties, the handicraft industry of making floss (rough silk) from inferior cocoon was extremely popularized. The basic operational point of this kind of method (named Piao Xu) included repeated thrashes and stamp crushing (involving a mill for crushing). Afterwards this technology was used in papermaking. In addition, during ancient times, Chinese people commonly used limewater or plant ash water to degum the raw silk (in other words, separate raw silk from the gum component), which inspired the technology of degumming vegetable fiber in the future papermaking industry. The development of papermaking is based on these technologies.

So far, according to archaeological discoveries, the invention of papermaking did not occur in the late stage of the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-24AD) to the initial stage of the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220). The earliest example of Western Han Dynasty ancient paper, discovered excavated at Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in 1933, was made no later than 49BC.

In May 1957, on the outskirts of Xi'an of North China's Shanxi Province , some paper made of hemp and a small amount of ramie (a kind of fiber) was unearthed from a tomb that archaeologists estimated was built no later than 118BC. The largest piece of the yellowish paper was about 10 cm long.

In 1986, at Tianshui of Northwest China's Gansu Province , people excavated some relics of paper map in Western Han Emperor Wen's time (179BC-141BC), indicating that paper was used for writing and drawing even at that time. In addition, the quality of the paper showed that in the early year of the Western Han Dynasty, papermaking technology was mature.

In history, there are very few literature materials about the Han Dynasty's papermaking technology; therefore it is very difficult for people today to understand the detailed technical process.

Anyhow, the papermaking technology was the combination of many processes that inevitably gave it a process of development and evolution. It was the consummate work of many ancient Chinese people.