Chapter 8 Production Materials for Section 1 Books

As we said earlier, books have two forms, one is ideological and the other is material.And when ideology needs to be expressed in words, there is a problem of attaching materials.The attached material of the text, or the carrier of the text, in a broad sense, is the production material of the book, or the production material of the book. The production materials of books were not originally written or printed on paper.The appearance of paper written documents has epoch-making significance in the history of book development.Therefore, we should draw a line with the appearance of paper books, and describe the production materials of books in two paragraphs.

Before the appearance of paper books, the production materials of books experienced a long evolution process.This is true not only of our Chinese nation, but also of some nations with earlier civilizations in the world.The early books in our country are expressed by oracle bone inscriptions, bronze inscriptions, and early stone inscriptions as examples. Therefore, the materials for making early books in our country are tortoise shells, animal bones, bronzes, jade, and stone materials.With the continuous enrichment of the content and the continuous lengthening of the characters, it was difficult to accommodate the oracle bones, bronzes, or stone and jade pieces, so bamboo and wood bamboo slips appeared.While bamboo slips and bamboo slips were popular, silk fabrics were also used to make books.Mo Di was a man at the turn of the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. In the book "Mozi", which was compiled by later generations of the Mohist school's speeches and writings, there are many issues concerning the production materials of early Chinese books, from which we can get inspiration.

"Mozi Guiyi Pian" said: In order to pass on their ways of governing the world to future generations, so that future generations can follow and imitate them, they wrote their ways of governing the world "on the bamboo and silk of books, The engraving of gold and stone." The so-called "book bamboo and silk" refers to writing on bamboo slips or silk; the so-called "carving of gold and stone" refers to carving on metal utensils or stone materials. "Mozi Ming Gui Pian" said: "The ancient sage kings must be ghosts and gods, and the ghosts and gods are generous. I am afraid that future generations will not know it, so the bamboo and silk of the old book will be passed on to future generations. I am afraid that it will rot. If it is destroyed, future generations will not remember it, so the dish bowls carved out, and the gold stones carved out are of great importance." This means that the ancient sage kings respected and believed in ghosts and gods, and sacrifices to ghosts and gods were very rich.I am afraid that future generations will not understand these principles, so this kind of thing should be written on bamboo slips and silk, so as to pass it on to future generations.When writing on bamboo slips and silk, they were afraid that the material would be easily rotten or destroyed by moths, and future generations would not know about it, so they ground and engraved these things on plates and utensils, and carved them on metal and stone. To show that such matters are taken seriously.It can be seen that what things were written on bamboo and silk by the ancients, and what things were carved on gold, stone, and bowls, there is a difference in severity.

"Mozi·Jianai Pian" said: "How do you know that the six kings of the sages lived in person?" Bamboo and silk, engraved on gold and stone, cut into a bowl, will be passed on to future generations who will know it.” This is Mo Zhai talking about his own feelings, showing his own experience, and affirming that he was not born at the same time as the six sage kings, nor did he personally hear their voices , nor have I seen his face in person.But how would I know their virtuous deeds?It is based on the written records they wrote on bamboo slips and silk, carved on metal and stone, and engraved on dishes and utensils at that time.

Although these statements in the above-mentioned "Mozi" are Mo Di standing in the era of his life, recalling the past, and describing the current world, and they are not for explaining the materials of the book, but his profound summary is not necessarily A high-level overview of book-making materials before the paper book appeared.Indeed, before the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States period when Mo Zhai lived, there was a period when gold, stone, bamboo, and silk were used as carriers of Chinese characters and materials for making Chinese books.With the emergence and development of regular books, bamboo and silk have gradually become the main materials for making books, and have been popular for a long historical period.

Wang Chong said in "Lunheng Quanzhi Pian": "Bamboo grows in mountains, wood grows in forests, and bamboo is cut into a tube. When it is broken, it is used as a letter, and the traces of pen and ink are added to form characters." Owing], watching [xixi] as a board, and scraping it hard, it becomes a memorial [dudu]." This means that the bamboo must be cut into a cylinder of sections, and then split into several bamboo pieces to make it. Bamboo slips that can be written on.The wood must also be cut into sections and cut into boards to make tablets that can be written on.And Hsinchu has green skin, which is not easy to get ink.At the same time, it also contains water, which is easy to decay and needs to be processed before it can be used.Liu Xiang at the end of the Western Han Dynasty once said in his "Bie Lu": "Hsinchu has juice, and it is good at rotten beetles. Anyone who makes bamboo slips is dried on the fire...Burning the slips with fire will make the sweat go away, and it will be easy to write. If it doesn’t come back to life, it’s called green bamboo slips, and it’s also called sweat slips.” (See Wu Shuping’s Annotation of Customs Tongyi Xiaowen Eleven) It can be seen that when the ancients used bamboo and wood as materials for making books, they not only knew how to rectify and scrape, it was convenient to use, but also Know how to prevent insects and beetles, so as to facilitate the protection of books.

Now "bamboo slips" has become a proper term, and bamboo and wooden slips are often compared.But in fact, bamboo slips were used for writing earlier than wooden slips.In other words, inspired by the practical use of bamboo slips, when there was no bamboo or it was not convenient to use bamboo slips, wooden slips were used as a substitute for bamboo slips as a material for making books, and they became popular at the same time as bamboo slips.This situation has been proved not only from the above-mentioned documents, but also from unearthed objects throughout the history. In 281 AD, someone stole the tomb of King Wei Xiang in Jijun (now northern Henan Province), and found a large number of bamboo slips, totaling 16 kinds.The content includes history and geography, divination, stories, etc.The current biography of "Bamboo Book Chronicles" and "Mu Tianzi Biography" is compiled and written from the stolen bamboo slips at that time.

In 479 A.D., a batch of bamboo slips were unearthed in the tomb of Chu near today's Xiangyang, Hubei Province. The characters were in tadpole script, and they were relics between 505 and 278 BC.It is a pity that the original bamboo slips and books discovered in these two times have not been handed down.The existing ancient bamboo slips are all unearthed in recent years. In 1952, 37 bamboo slips were unearthed at Wuli Pai. In 1953, 43 bamboo slips from the 4th century BC were unearthed from Yangtian Lake. In 1954, 73 bamboo slips from the 3rd century BC were unearthed in Yangjiawan, Changsha. From 1972 to 1973, nearly a thousand pieces of bamboo slips were unearthed from two Western Han Dynasty tombs in Mawangdui, Changsha. In 1975, more than 1,100 bamboo slips from the first year of Qin Zhaowang to the 30th year of Qin Shihuang (306-217 BC) were unearthed from the Qin Tomb in Yunmengsuihudi, Hubei. In 1977, in Fuyang County, Anhui Province, more than 10 kinds of ancient books on bamboo slips were unearthed from the tomb of Xia Houzao, the son of Xia Houying, the founding hero of the Western Han Dynasty. In 1978, more than 240 bamboo slips were unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng in the early Warring States Period in Suixian, Hubei. In 1983, more than 1,100 bamboo slips from the early Western Han Dynasty were unearthed from the Zhangjiawan Han Tomb in Jiangling, Hubei Province, which are the relics of the Western Han Dynasty from Emperor Wen to Emperor Wu.All of the bamboo slips unearthed above eloquently prove that bamboo slips are commonly used materials for making official books with the qualifications of real objects.

In addition to the Central Plains, most of the unearthed wooden tablets are in the Northwest. In 1901, Stein, a British-Hungarian, visited Central Asia for the first time and found a batch of about 40 wooden tablets from the Eastern Han Dynasty at the ancient site of Niya in Hotan. From 1906 to 1908, Stein visited Central Asia twice successively. In the ruins near Dunhuang and Jiuquan slightly east, he obtained more than a thousand bamboo slips and slips, about 98 BC to 153 AD. .The content involves literature, mathematics, almanac, divination and astronomical data, etc. In 1930, the Northwest China Scientific Expedition Group carried out excavations in Juyan and obtained a large number of bamboo slips of the Han Dynasty.Kozlov from the Geographical Society of the Russian Empire and Stein from the United Kingdom also visited this area successively.More than 5,200 wooden tablets were found in Pochengzi, and more than 3,500 wooden tablets were found in Hongchengzi and other places, about 102 BC to 30 AD. In 1959, the Gansu Provincial Museum unearthed 385 bamboo slips from an Eastern Han tomb in the suburbs of Wuwei, most of which were spruce wooden slips. In 1972, another 92 medical slips were found in the Hantanpo Eastern Han Dynasty tomb in Wuwei, mostly made of pine and poplar. From 1972 to 1976, in the Juyan area of ​​the Ejina River Basin in Gansu Province, nearly 20,000 bamboo slips from the New Deal period of Wang Mang were found successively, most of which were wooden slips. In 1978, more than 400 bamboo slips were unearthed from the tomb of the late Western Han Dynasty in Shangsunjiazhai, Datong County, Qinghai Province, most of which were made of spruce. In 1979, 1,217 bamboo slips were unearthed at the Han Dynasty Beacon Site in Maquan Bay, Dunhuang, Gansu Province, which were relics from 65 BC to Wang Mang's New Deal period.In addition, many bamboo slips have been unearthed in the Loulan area.All of the above also shows that when the bamboo slips were popular, the wooden tablets were also popular one after another, and they were mainly popular in the northwest region of our country.This is because there are few bamboos and many trees in the northwest region.And most of them are pine, willow, poplar and tamarisk (sheng) willow.This kind of wood grows locally, is white in color and pine, and is easy to absorb ink, so it is widely used as a material for making books in the Central Plains and Northwest China.

Regarding the size system of the bamboo and wood bamboo slips, the previous statements did not completely match the reality, or even did not match at all.To sum up, it is roughly as follows. Jingshu: In the past, Confucian classics were said to be two feet and four inches long. Law books: In the past, law books were said to be three feet long, or two feet and four inches long. (A week's ruler is equivalent to a Han ruler's eight inches) Books of Zhuzi: In the past, it was said that the books of Zhuzi Chi were written by Zhuzi, which meant that the writings of Zhuzi were as long as one foot.

In fact, these statements are somewhat generalized, and the simplified length of books in the Han Dynasty is summarized as the general system of books in the early Han Dynasty, which is not entirely the case.For example, the bamboo slips of "Mu Tianzi Biography" unearthed in Jizhong in the Jin Dynasty were about two feet long in Han Chi; The length of the bamboo slips unearthed from the tomb is less than one chi of the Han chi; the length of the bamboo slips unearthed from the tomb of Marquis Ruyin in the early Western Han Dynasty at Shuanggudui in Fuyang is only nine inches five of the Han chi; .And these books are all the classics called by later generations, and their lengths are not all two feet and four inches, but they are uneven, and there is no certain regulation.Among the bamboo slips unearthed in recent years, some are two feet long, some are one foot two inches long or one foot one inch long, and even only five inches long.The "Almanac" bamboo slips unearthed from the mid-Western Han Dynasty tomb in Yinqueshan is about three feet in length; the military regulations and military law slips unearthed from the tomb in Datong Shangsunjiazhai are only one foot and one inch in length; The "Eighteen Kinds of Qin Law" slips unearthed in Yunmeng are only more than 20 centimeters long, which is less than one foot in Han chi; the Han law slips among the Han bamboo slips unearthed in Zhangjiashan are also about one foot long.This shows that regardless of the Zhou system, the Qin system, or the Han system, the bamboo slips used in legal books are not three feet long, and they do not conform to the so-called "three-foot law" ancient system.All these phenomena show that the ancients used Jane to write books, and there was no absolute customization of the length, it was just a convention.Since it is a convention, there is a lot of flexibility, especially in folk writing, there is greater flexibility in using short and long.Therefore, we can't generalize and say which type of book must use the length of the letter.Probably the length of the Jane used by the ancients to write a book is also related to financial resources and admiration. If the financial resources are abundant, and a certain book is respected, the length of the book is long, and vice versa.This is the same as publishing books now. The content is important, the author has a high status, and the publishing house is rich. While bamboo slips and bamboo slips were popular, silk fabrics were also used to make books. This has been mentioned more than once in the book "Mozi" we mentioned earlier. "The Analects of Confucius·Wei Linggong" says that "Zi Zhang wrote to the gentry." That is to say, Zi Zhang wrote some words of Confucius on the large silk belt. "Customs and Customs" said: "Han Liuxiang was the Emperor Xiaocheng's collation of books for more than 20 years, all of which were bamboo books first, changed and published, and those who can be copied are more than plain." When it was destroyed, the soldiers used the silk books as tents and bags.Until "Sui Shu·Jing Ji Zhi" recorded that Jin Xunxu [xu Preface] talked about the books at that time when he was sorting out "Jin Zhong Jing Bu", he still said that "it is filled with empty pouches, and books use plain elements".All these show that from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Eastern Jin Dynasty for thousands of years, silk, like bamboo and wood slips, was commonly used as a material for making books.This is recorded in the literature, and the unearthed objects over the years have also verified this fact. In 1908, the British Stein found two silk scripts in Dunhuang, one was 9 cm square, the other was 15 cm long and 6.5 cm wide.The content is the communication between the interior and the frontier.It is about 15-56 AD. In 1942, a silk painting was unearthed from a tomb of Chu in the Warring States Period in Changsha. In 1949, silk paintings were unearthed again from another Chu tomb in Changsha. In 1973, in the Chu tomb excavated in 1942, silk paintings of figures were unearthed again. In 1972, colored silk paintings were unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Tomb in Changsha. In 1976, a long silk painting was unearthed from the Western Han Tomb in Yinqueshan, Linyi, Shandong. In 1973, more than 20 kinds of silk scripts with more than 100,000 characters were unearthed from the Mawangdui Western Han Dynasty Tomb in Changsha.Many of these books contain texts that are different from those of today's current editions.For example, in "Laozi", two silk manuscripts were unearthed, both of which are the Classics of Virtue and the Classics of Taoism.There are four lost texts of nearly 30,000 characters in the back of Volume A and the front of Volume B. "Warring States Policy" has more than 12,000 characters, most of which are not available in this book today.It is more than 4000 words more than the current version. "Warring States Strategist Family Letters" has 28 chapters and more than 11,000 characters. It is a long-lost suicide note.The unearthed silk scripts provided a relatively complete image of the silk scripts, further proving that silk scripts were indeed one of the materials used to make Chinese books. The image of the silk script is still imitating bamboo and wood bamboo slips.Generally used as a material for book making, lines are drawn or woven on it, which are called boundary lines or column lines.The black ones are called "Wusi Lan", the red ones are called "Zhu Si Lan", and the striped grids formed between the two lines are completely imitated and reappeared of the images of the strips of bamboo and wood slips. "Book of Later Han Xiangkai Biography" records that during Emperor Shun of the Han Dynasty, Langye Gongchong once went to the palace gate to present a Taoist work "Taiping Qinglingshu" obtained by his master Yu Ji on Quyang Spring. There are 170 volumes in total. Bai Su Zhu Jie Qingshou Zhumu".What is depicted is black characters written on pure white silk, with scarlet lines drawn between lines of characters.The beginning of the volume is followed by a cyan silk, on which the subheadings for dividing paragraphs are written with a red pen.Thinking about it is pleasing to the eye, Zhu Mo is brilliant.It can be seen that the scroll design of ancient Chinese silk scripts is quite exquisite.However, after the silk script appeared, it did not replace the bamboo and wood slips, but became popular together with the bamboo and wood slips as materials for making books, and finally they were replaced by paper books. Our modern concept of paper refers to the paper made by crushing plant fibers into pulp and then making paper.In the technical terms of papermaking technology, it is the paper that has gone through the process of drying, which is the paper of modern scientific concepts.Unearthed objects over the years have proved that this kind of plant fiber paper existed in China long before Cai Lun. In 1957, cultural relics from the time of Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty (144-88 BC) were unearthed at the construction site of Baqiao Brick and Tile Factory in Xi'an, including fragments of ancient paper.Rough texture, no writing.When it was unearthed, it was found that it was used to wrap the burial bronze mirror at that time.In the decades after unearthed, these ancient paper fragments were tested by Chinese and foreign scholars using modern scientific methods, and it was found that it had a bristling process, which proved that it was paper made of hemp fibers. In 1933, the Northwest China Scientific Research Group discovered a piece of ancient paper in Lop Nur, Xinjiang. It was 10 cm long and 4 cm wide, white in color and rough in texture.After testing by modern means, it is determined that the paper is also made of hemp fiber, and there are unmashed hemp tendons on the paper surface.Also unearthed from the same tomb is a wooden slip from the first year of Huanglong (49 BC) of Emperor Xuan of the Western Han Dynasty, so it was determined to be a relic around 49 BC. In 1978, ancient paper from the period of Emperor Xuan of the Western Han Dynasty (73-49 BC) was discovered.The paper is rough and is also made of hemp fibers. In 1942, a ball of paper with written characters was discovered near the Ejina River in Inner Mongolia. According to laboratory tests, it was also paper made of plant fibers.Judging from several wooden slips unearthed at the same time during the Eastern Han and Emperor Yongyuan years, it is believed to be around AD 39-98. In 1973, ancient paper from the Eastern Han Dynasty was discovered at the Gansu Hantanpo construction site.There are official characters written on the paper.Tests have proved that it is also paper made of hemp fibers.The texture of paper is much finer than Baqiao paper.It shows that papermaking technology is constantly improving. The above-mentioned archaeological discoveries fully prove that papermaking technology was invented in China long before Cai Lun.But Cai Lun has something to do with paper.Cai Lun was a figure around the time of the Eastern Han Dynasty. "East View of the Han Dynasty" said that "Cai Lun Dian Shangfang used bark as paper, named grain paper; so fishnets were used as paper, named net paper; ... Hemp, also named hemp paper." It can be proved that Cai Lun expanded the raw materials for papermaking and improved The papermaking technology has been improved, and the papermaking process has been improved. "Book of the Later Han·Cai Lun Biography" said that Cai Lun felt that "since ancient times, most of the book deeds were compiled with bamboo slips, and those who used silk were called paper. The bamboo is expensive, simple and heavy, and it is not convenient for people. Lun used tree skin and hemp heads in his creation. And cloth and fishnets are used as paper. It was played in the first year of Yuan Xing (AD 105). The emperor is good at his ability, and the world will use it, so the world is called Caihou paper." It can be proved that the papermaking technology was improved by Cai Lun , the quality is improved, and the world is used. China has had papermaking for a long time, but when did paper be used as a material for making books, or in other words, when books were written with paper?"Customs and Customs" written by Ying Shao in the 2nd century AD records that Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu, the first emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, moved the capital from Chang'an to Luoyang in 25 AD.During the process of moving the capital, it is said that the carts carrying books were "two thousand carts containing Su, Jian, and Zhijingfan".The plain script here refers to the silk script; the bamboo slip refers to the bamboo slip script; and the paper refers to the book written on paper.The ancients used to refer to silk as paper, but there is already a distinction between plain, simple and paper.Su is already a silk book, so it is impossible for paper to still refer to silk book. If it still refers to silk book, why bother to call it "Zai Su, Jane, and Zhi Sutra Fan 2000"!It can be seen that the paper book here should refer to a book written on paper.If this is true, then at least it can be said that my country knew how to use paper as a material for making books in the late Western Han Dynasty or early Eastern Han Dynasty.At the same time as Ying Shao, there was also a man named Liu Zhen. In his "East View of Han Ji·Jia Kui Biography", he also said that Emperor Zhang of the Han Dynasty Liu Da (da Da) had appointed Dr. Jia Kui in AD 76 (AD 29 -101) taught the "Spring and Autumn Zuo Shi Zhuan" to students.In order to make reference to the textbooks used by Jia Kui, he was specially given "one pass for the bamboo slips and one for the paper scriptures".The so-called "Spring and Autumn" written on paper here is probably a real paper book.Yuan Hong, a native of Jin, wrote "The Chronicle of the Later Han Dynasty·Hediji", which said that Concubine Deng Guifei became the queen in 102 AD, and ordered that all countries be prohibited from paying tribute to precious things, and only required "only tribute paper and ink at the age of age".It can be seen that in the nearly one hundred years of the early Eastern Han Dynasty, paper has begun to be used to make books. After Cai Lun improved papermaking technology, especially after Zuo Bo in Donglai, Shandong further improved papermaking technology, the use of paper as writing material or book making material became more and more frequent. Volume 104 of "Beitang Shuchao" quoted Cui Yuan's letter to Ge Yuanfu saying, "Xu Zi" 10 volumes for you, "poor is not as good as plain, but paper ears".It means that since my family is not rich, the book given to you cannot be written on silk, so I have to write it on paper. "Book of the Later Han Dynasty Yandu Biography" quotes "The History of the Sages", saying that Yandu intends to copy a "Spring and Autumn Zuoshi Biography" by himself, and there is no paper.His master Tang Xidian gave him some waste notes and asked him to use the back of this paper to copy.As a result, it was impossible to write on the back of this kind of paper, so Yan Du had to borrow one from others to read.Zhao Qi's "San Fu Jue Lu" at the end of the Han Dynasty quoted Wei Dan (179-253 A.D.), saying: "If a worker wants to be good at his work, he must first sharpen his tools." The pen made by Zhang Zhi, the paper and paper made by Zuo Bo With the ink made by myself, the size of the characters can be written perfectly. "Book of the Later Han·Cai Yan Biography" records that Cai Wenji, the daughter of Cai Yong and Cai Zhonglang, was entrusted by Cao Cao and led 10 people sent by Cao Cao to copy books for Cao Cao.In order to accomplish this task, Cai Wenji once "begged for paper and pens" from Cao Cao. After having paper and pens, as for whether to write regular script or cursive script, it was up to her.As a result, Cao Cao gave her paper and pens, and they sent the book to Cao Cao after they finished writing, without any mistakes in the text.The above-mentioned stories all happened in the Eastern Han Dynasty. It can be seen that in the Eastern Han Dynasty (AD 25-220), it was not uncommon to use paper to write characters or use paper to write books. After entering the Three Kingdoms and Jin Dynasties, the raw materials for papermaking have been further expanded, the area for papermaking has been further expanded, the equipment for papermaking has been further improved, and the technology of papermaking has been further improved.Some of the paper made in the Jin Dynasty reached 70% sophistication, which is almost close to the machine-made paper of later generations.Due to the exquisite quality of paper, paper has also become the subject of poems and poems for poets and poets.For example, Fu Xian in the Jin Dynasty wrote "Paper Fu", praising paper as "it is a thing, it is beautiful and precious. It is cheap and clean, and its body is clean and true. It contains chapters and algae, and it is really elegant. Take the disadvantages of the other and think of yourself. It is new. It is comfortable when you hold it, and it is rolled when you leave it. It can be bent and stretched, and it can be hidden and displayed." It can be seen that not only the quality of the paper is very exquisite, but also the characteristics and advantages of the paper have been chanted by poets.We know that during the Three Kingdoms period, Wei Wendi Cao Pi wrote his own literary theory work "Dian Lun" and poems on silk and sent them to Sun Quan of Soochow; he also copied a copy on paper and gave it to the minister Zhang Zhao. Paper is not yet common enough, and its status cannot be compared with silk.But by the Jin Dynasty, paper had become the dominant writing material, and silk and bamboo slips were on the eve of being replaced. Volume 605 of "Taiping Yulan" cites "Yulin" to record that Wang Xizhi once asked Xie An in Kuaiji (now Shaoxing, Zhejiang) to give him paper. There were only 90,000 sheets left in the library, and they were all given to him. Volume 21 of "Beginner's Notes" quoted Jin Yuyu's "Inviting Mifu Paper Tables" saying that there are more than 30,000 sheets of paper in the Mifu, and 400 sheets are requested to be given to the history of works for writing notes on daily life.From these records, we can imagine the amount of paper used at that time.This trend can also be seen from the number of books collected by the government at that time.During the Three Kingdoms period, Cao Wei’s official collection of books was only 4,562 volumes; in the early years of the Western Jin Dynasty, the official collection of books reached 29,945 volumes; by the time of Emperor Xiaowu in the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the official collection of books reached as many as 36,000 volumes.At the same time, private book collections gradually increased, and professional copyists and copying institutions also appeared.Daily public and private documents are also often written on paper.By the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Huanxuan (369-404 A.D.), a wealthy family, was in power in the court.According to "Huan Gong's False Things" quoted in Volume 1 of "Beginners", Huan Xuan ordered in the year of his death (AD 404): "There is no paper in ancient times, so the use of Jane is not for respect. Today's Those who use bamboo slips should use yellow paper instead." This order means that in ancient times there was no paper, so all writing was done with bamboo and wood slips, not to show respect to anyone.Now that paper is prevalent, anyone who writes on bamboo and wood slips will be replaced by yellow paper from now on.This is the first time that the government has explicitly stipulated to stop using brief records and replace them with paper records.It shows that from 404 AD, the bamboo and wood slips that have been used for one or two thousand years have withdrawn from the stage of book history, and paper has officially become the main or only book-making material in the process of gradually being used for hundreds of years.Since then, books written on paper have developed rapidly and become popular in the world.At the beginning of this century, a large number of suicide notes discovered from the Mogao Grottoes of the Thousand Buddha Caves in Dunhuang, Gansu Province also proved this point in kind.The earliest Dunhuang posthumous text is "Dharani Mantra Sutra", which was written in 278 AD, that is, the fourth year of Xianning in the Western Jin Dynasty.And a large number of them are the relics of the Tang and Five Dynasties.It shows that from the Jin Dynasty to the Five Dynasties, that is, from the 3rd century to the 10th century AD, is the heyday of handwritten paper books in my country.After entering the Northern Song Dynasty, engraved and printed books flourished, and paper became the only material for making books.And because of the spread of Chinese papermaking, the whole world is using paper to make books.All human beings are relying on the ship of books to keep sailing towards a glorious future.