Chapter 15 Section 3 Song and Yuan Xuan Paper

The paper industry in Xuanzhou area was very developed in the Song Dynasty.The raw materials for papermaking and the types of paper have greatly increased, and many processed papers have appeared, and the paper world presents a colorful and dazzling scene.Papers named after places include Hui paper, She paper, Chi paper, Yichuan snow, Longxu paper, Xin'an paper and so on.Named according to the paper products are: Maiguang, Baihua, Bingyi, Ningshuang, Chengxintang, Fangchengxintang, Jinbang, Huaxin, Luwang, Bailu, Rolling curtain, Jinzha, Dianzha, Yuban , Baiyin, Jinglian, Tangyi Paper, Table Paper, Qingguang Paper, Seven Colors, Yuxin, Quilt Paper, Chestnut Paper, Water Paper, etc.The papers named because of different processing are: waxy yellow scripture paper (also known as millet paper), Biyun Chunshu paper, triangle inner paper with dragon and phoenix printing edge, printed gold tuanhua, Liansi, roll cotton paper, Zhangerhe paper, white cotton paper etc.

The "Four Books of Study" written by Su Yijian of the Song Dynasty said: "There are many good papers between Yi and She, with the titles of Ningshuang and Chengxin", which shows that in the Song Dynasty, in the area of ​​Yi and She, that is, Xuanzhou area, very good paper was produced, and the paper was named Ningshuang, Chengxin. "Jie Zhi Pu" also records: "...Hui paper, pool paper, bamboo paper are in Shu, Shu people love their lightness and fineness, and when customers come to Chengdu, the price of Sichuan paper is tripled every time. Fan Gong is in town two In the first year, the use of Shu paper was stopped, and the provincial public funds [tang if] were very expensive, and it was strange that the Shu bureaus and prefectures and counties had to use Huichi paper. Fan Gong used Shu paper, which was more important than that. In terms of personnel affairs in Shu, he dared not Light, the most important thing is this, and the price is too big to say." Fan Gong refers to Fan Chengda, a writer in the Song Dynasty, who was once the envoy of Sichuan.At that time, Huichi paper was exported to Sichuan (now Sichuan Province). Although the paper price was nearly three times higher than that in the local area, it was still popular.In order to please their superiors, local officials in Shu used expensive emblem paper and pool paper for their official documents.From this interesting record, we can also see the excellent texture of Hui paper and Chi paper.Regarding the excellent paper products produced in Xuanzhou area, Wang Ling, a writer in the Song Dynasty, also praised it in a poem: "If you have money, don't buy gold, but buy Jiangdong paper. Jiangdong paper is as white as spring clouds."

The paper-making technology in the Xuanzhou area of ​​the Song Dynasty was really superb. It is recorded in the "Four Books of the Study Room" that: "The paper-making in the Yi and Hui areas, "If there are elders, they can make a piece of fifty feet.... Immerse it in a long boat, and dozens of husbands lift it I copied it, and then I used a drum to hold it, so I baked it in a big smoked cage, so that it does not go up on the wall, and it is uniform and thin from the beginning to the end." This is how to use a long boat to make a super large paper.When copying paper, one person beats the drums and orders are unified, and dozens of people carry out the work simultaneously.Because it is super large and long paper, it cannot be air-dried on the wall when drying, but is rotated and dried in a large fumigation cage, so that the thickness of the paper can be made uniform.It can also be seen from this that how clever the paper workers were at that time to make such a huge paper.

The papermaking method in the Xuanzhou area of ​​the Song Dynasty was so ingenious, and there were also miracles in its use. It is recorded in the "Four Books of the Study Room": "There are man-made paper clothes in Yi and She today, which can be like a door closed [hehe] Xu, and there are also clothes for scholars and bureaucrats who travel recently, and they are built to resist the wind in the condensate [hu mutual. 〕When.” This means that the paper clothes can be closed (put on and off) like a door, and even the scholar-bureaucrats wear them when they travel far to resist the wind and cold.It is said that disposable paper clothes have already appeared outside the region. In fact, paper clothes have "existed in ancient times" in our country.

Paper from the Xuanzhou area in the Song Dynasty was also used in large quantities to print books.For example, in the Southern Song Dynasty, Xuancheng was engraved with "Xie Xuancheng Collection" by Xie Tiao [tiaotiao], Chizhou was engraved with "Selected Works of You Miao [Mao Mao]", and Huizhou was engraved with Zhu Xi's "Poetry Collection Biography" and Lu Zuqian's "Imperial Dynasty Wenjian" And Zhu Mu's "Fang Yu Sheng Lan" and so on.This shows that the paper in Xuanzhou area also played a huge role in printing books and spreading culture.

In the history of Chinese painting and calligraphy, the Yuan Dynasty was an important period.As mentioned earlier, the painting art of the Yuan Dynasty represented by Zhao Mengfu and the "Four Great Masters" embodies another creative development of Chinese painting, and also greatly promoted the development of calligraphy and painting art in the Ming and Qing dynasties.In the paintings of the Yuan Dynasty, "literati paintings" (generally referring to the paintings of Chinese people and scholar-bureaucrats in China's feudal society, which is different from the paintings of folk and court paintings) began to dominate, and a large number of landscape paintings suitable for expressing the wishes of literati painters emerged. In terms of calligraphy and painting, he pursued the style of elegant charm and dripping ink, and ink art works became very popular.Obviously, these need to be expressed on high-quality drawing paper.As Wang Meng said: "I don't use silk in my life, but I write it on paper." Wu Zhen paints "every time he uses good paper...so there are very few silk paintings."Most of Zhao Mengfu's surviving paintings and calligraphy works are also "paper books".The development of culture and art promoted the development of paper industry in Yuan Dynasty.

Some literati in the Yuan Dynasty also chanted about the paper produced in the Xuanzhou area.For example, in a poem by Gu Ying, a writer in the Yuan Dynasty, he said: "The King of He sent me snow in Yichuan, with ripples and the sound of the moon." This means that the paper produced in Yixian County at that time was as snowy as moonlight. Bai Jie.Fu Ruojin, another writer of the Yuan Dynasty, wrote a poem "Xin'an River is clear to the bottom, and paper made by the water's edge is as bright as the water." Due to the excellent paper quality in Xuanzhou area, there were imitators in Shu area in Yuan Dynasty.The Yuan Dynasty's "Jianzhipu" said: "In recent years, it has imitated the Huichi method and made Shengchi paper."

In the Xuanzhou area of ​​the Yuan Dynasty, the engraving and printing industry was also very prosperous.For example, there are "Han Shu Zhu", "Later Han Shu", "Three Kingdoms" and so on.Coupled with the prevalence of editing genealogy at that time, all of these increased the society's demand for paper, thus promoting the prosperity and development of the paper industry. Wang Zhen, a famous agronomist in the Yuan Dynasty, once served as Yin of Jingde County in Xuanzhou area. At that time, he used wooden movable type and paper produced in Xuanzhou area to print the county annals.In his "Agricultural Book", he also discussed the raw material for papermaking, the mulberry tree: "Those who cook, peel and sell their skins work hard and benefit a lot...they can make paper by themselves, and the benefits are great."

The development of the paper industry in the Yuan Dynasty, especially the outstanding development of the paper industry in the Xuanzhou area (Hui paper, Chi paper), has gradually created the necessary conditions for the birth of real Xuan paper.