Chapter 3 Chapter 3 Papermaking Technology in the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties

In 581, Yang Jian seized the rule of the Northern Zhou Dynasty and established the Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD), which ended the division between the North and the South and reunified China. In 618, Li Yuan, Li Shimin and his son established the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD), with a total of 290 years.After the Tang Dynasty, the society was divided into Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, with a total of 379 years in the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties.This period is the further development stage of Chinese papermaking.Due to the prosperity of the social economy and the development of agriculture, handicrafts and scientific culture in the Tang Dynasty, the Tang Empire became one of the most highly civilized and prosperous countries in the world at that time, which also provided good conditions for the development of the paper industry.The raw materials for papermaking in this period were further expanded than those in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. Paper products were popularized in the daily life of the people, and the papermaking areas spread all over the north and south.Some progress has been made in improving pulp performance and reforming papermaking equipment, which can produce better paper with larger format, which meets the special requirements of calligraphy and painting art. And imitate for future generations.Due to the development of Sino-foreign communication and scientific and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, Chinese papermaking technology spread abroad in different directions.The invention of woodblock printing stimulated the further development of the paper industry.In short, this period is an important development stage in the history of papermaking technology.

The expansion of the variety of papermaking raw materials is a sign reflecting the progress of papermaking technology.During the Sui and Tang dynasties, the raw materials used for papermaking included hemp, mulberry bark, mulberry bark, rattan bark, Swiss incense bark, hibiscus bark, etc. Bamboo paper also made its debut at this time.Although hemp was still used as the main raw material for papermaking, the output of other raw material papers increased significantly compared with that of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, and more mixed raw material papers appeared.In the Tang Dynasty, in addition to using broken linen to make paper, wild hemp fiber was also used to make paper.Volume 6 of "Fashu Yaolu" by Zhang Yanyuan of the Tang Dynasty records that during the Kaiyuan period of Emperor Xuanzong (713-741 A.D.), Xiao Cheng used wild hemp from Xishan Mountains and earth hubs from Guozhou (now Shaanxi) to make five-color spotted writing paper.Making paper from wild hemp raw fiber requires retting and degumming of the raw fiber, which is more troublesome than making paper from rags, but the cost is low.China is rich in wild hemp resources, such as Tianma.Making paper with wild hemp is an effective way to open up the source of raw materials.In addition to hemp, rattan paper, which emerged since the Jin Dynasty, reached its heyday in the Tang Dynasty, and its production areas were not limited to Zhejiang. "Tang Liudian" and Tang Dynasty Li Zhao's "Hanlin Zhi" both record that the imperial court and official documents of the Tang Dynasty used green, white, and yellow rattan paper, each with different uses.Lu Yu (? - 804 A.D.) "The Classic of Tea" mentions wrapping tea in rattan paper. Gu Kuang (727-815 A.D.)'s "Shan Paper Song" collected in Volume 10 of "Quan Tang Poetry" describes the rattan paper in Shanxi, Zhejiang in the form of poetry.At that time, because they only paid attention to the cutting of vines and did not pay attention to cultivation, hundreds of miles of inner vines in the Shanxi area were cut off, which destroyed the ecological balance of the environment. Therefore, Shu Yuanyu, a Tang Dynasty man, expressed his emotion when he passed by here, and wrote "Sorrowful Shanxi Ancient Vine" arts".The growth period of rattan is longer than that of hemp and mulberry, and the resources are limited. Therefore, rattan paper has declined since the Tang Dynasty. This is a historical lesson.

According to "New Book of Tang Xiao Fang Biography" and Tang Dynasty Liu Xun's "Ling Biao Lu Yi", there were many stacks of fragrant trees in Luozhou (now Lianjiang), Guangdong at that time, and their bodies were like cabinet willows. .This refers to the agarwood tree of the family Thymelae.In the early 20th century, the skin paper made of auspicious spices in the Tang Dynasty was unearthed in Xinjiang, and its raw material was determined to be Bai Ruixiang.According to the natural spices contained in the bast of Daphneaceae trees, the aroma is pungent, but the spices have been removed during the papermaking process, and unless additional spices are added to the pulp, the paper made has no fragrance.According to Ming Dynasty scientist Song Yingxing (1587-1666 A.D.) "Tiangong Kaiwu · Finishing", the Xuetao paper made in Sichuan in the Tang Dynasty used hibiscus skin as raw material, and then mixed hibiscus flower juice into the pulp to make pink poetry paper.Xue Tao (768-831 A.D.) was a poetess, and she sang with Bai Juyi, Du Mu, Liu Yuxi and other famous poets at that time with her Xue Tao Jian. Besides pink, there are other colors, so Xue Tao Jian was famous for a while.Hibiscus is a hibiscus of Malvaceae, which belongs to ornamental plant hibiscus, and its phloem contains 59.75% fiber, which can be used for papermaking.During the Tang and Five Dynasties, especially Meng Zhixiang, the ruler of the later Shu Dynasty of the Five Dynasties, planted hibiscus near Chengdu when he occupied Sichuan. "Every autumn, forty miles are like beautiful brocades." This is how "Jincheng" comes from, and now Hibiscus has become the city flower of Chengdu.However, from the perspective of environmental protection, it is not advisable to use hibiscus bark to make paper, because it will wipe out a large area of ​​ornamental plants in an instant. It is better to use wild plants as raw materials. Vellum paper and mulberry paper are the bulk.

Since the bast fiber of Moraceae woody contains many impurities such as pectin and lignin, and is covered with a layer of green skin, the peeled bark should be retting in a pool for a period of time when making paper, and removed by microbial fermentation. Part of the pectin is peeled off the green cortex, and then boiled with plant ash water, pounded and rinsed to form a pulp.According to our analysis and simulation experiments on parchment paper in the Tang Dynasty, its manufacturing process can be shown in the following diagram.It can be seen from this that making leather paper is more difficult and complicated than hemp paper.The key to making vellum paper is to remove the impurities contained in the raw fiber, and at the same time prevent the green dander from the outer layer of the bark from entering the pulp.It takes a lot of manpower to remove such harmful substances and produce white paper.When we appreciate the white paper of the Tang Dynasty handed down from generation to generation, we cannot forget the hard work of the paper workers.

Now discuss the origin of bamboo paper.Zhao Xihu, a native of the Southern Song Dynasty, said in "Dongtian Qinglu Collection" that the father and son of Eastern Jin calligraphers Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi used Shaoxing bamboo paper in Zhejiang to write, because northern paper was rare after the Eastern Jin Dynasty moved south, and Wang and his son lived in Shaoxing, Zhejiang for a long time.Since then, many people believe that bamboo paper existed in the Jin Dynasty.Some people interpret the "bamboo cloth" in "Southern Vegetation and Trees" written by Ji Han (AD 263-306) as bamboo paper.In fact, the "authentic works" of Wang Xizhi and Wang Xianzhi written on bamboo paper that Zhao Xihu saw were copies or forgeries of the Song Dynasty, so it cannot be said that there was bamboo paper in the Jin Dynasty.As for the bamboo sparse cloth in "Southern Vegetation and Trees", it actually refers to bamboo mats, not paper.So far, there is no reliable record of bamboo paper in the literature before Tang Dynasty, and there is no physical remains.It is difficult to establish that bamboo paper originated in the Jin Dynasty.More reliable records only appeared from the Tang Dynasty, and only then was it technically feasible. In the 9th century, Li Zhao’s "Tang Guoshi Bu" mentioned the types of paper in various places in the Tang Dynasty: "Paper includes the rattan of Yue (now Zhejiang), the hemp noodles of Shu... the bamboo of Shao." Namely Shaozhou, now Shaoguan, Guangdong, this area has been rich in bamboo since ancient times, and it was still famous for bamboo paper in Ming and Qing Dynasties.When Duan Gonglu of the Tang Dynasty talked about the scented paper in Luozhou, Guangdong, he also mentioned that this paper was "not as good as mulberry root and bamboo film paper", that is, mulberry paper and bamboo paper. In the 10th century, Cui Guitu, a man in the 10th century, commented on this sentence, saying: "It comes from Muzhou." Muzhou is located in Chun'an, Zhejiang Province today, which shows that mulberry paper and bamboo paper were produced in Chun'an area in Tang Dynasty.From this point of view, in the 9th and 10th centuries, bamboo paper had already made its appearance in Guangdong and Zhejiang.It was not until the Song Dynasty that he showed his talents.However, the output of bamboo paper in the Tang Dynasty was very small, and it was still inferior to hemp paper and leather paper. It was just a new type of paper that had just been born.

With the expansion of papermaking raw materials and the promotion of papermaking techniques in various places, the paper production areas spread all over the country during the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties.According to ancient records, Changzhou, Hangzhou, Yuezhou, Wu[wuwu]zhou, Qu[ququ]zhou, Xuanzhou, She[sheshe]zhou, Chizhou, Jiangzhou, etc. Xinzhou, Hengzhou and other 11 prefectures.This is of course an incomplete statistic.In fact, in addition to the above places, at least Yangzhou, Shaozhou, Puzhou, Yizhou, Jinzhou, Qizhou, Fuzhou, Laizhou and Jingzhao (Changan) also produced paper.That is to say, it is produced in various provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Sichuan, Guangdong, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Fujian, Shandong, Henan, and even in remote Shazhou (now Dunhuang, Gansu) and Xinjiang, Tibet and other ethnic minority areas. Paper.Due to the large amount of paper produced, the social consumption is also considerable.Taking the Jixian Academy of Tang Neifu as an example, more than 10,000 sheets of Shu paper were used to copy 365 volumes in one year in the third year of Dazhong (849 A.D.), while the royal libraries of Chang'an and Luoyang copied tens of thousands of volumes of books and collections. With the annual consumption of 60,000 sheets of paper for the bachelors of Xian Academy, I don't know how much paper they will use.This is the material backing that promotes the development of social science and culture.Block printing was developed and put into use during this historical period.Printing books with engraving blocks can save a lot of manpower and time spent in copying handwritten books, provide rare books through proofreading, and print millions of copies at a time, which is convenient for the circulation of books.The "Diamond Sutra" printed in the ninth year of Xiantong (868 AD) found in the Dunhuang stone chamber is a representative work of printed matter of this period, and the printing industry is another field that consumes a lot of paper.

In the Tang Dynasty, paper with a larger format could be produced, which met the needs of painters. Paper paintings increased rapidly from this period, and Han Huang (huang Huang) (723-787 AD) handed down the color "Five Bulls". Picture", unearthed are color-painted flower-and-bird paintings and figure paintings.In addition to cultural and clerical paper, many daily necessities in the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties were also made of paper products to replace other expensive materials, such as lantern paper and window paper. The surface was coated with oil to become waterproof paper, which could replace silk.In Europe, it was not until 1735 that the British Obadiah Wyld obtained a patent for making waterproof paper.As for paper clothes, paper hats, paper quilts, paper tents, paper nails, paper flowers, paper-cuts, and wrapping paper, all of these products can replace the textiles used in the past. Such objects have also been unearthed in recent years, and they are not limited to document records."Flying money" in the Tang Dynasty was the forerunner of paper currency, which was used to replace metal currency.In superstitious activities, paper is also used to make paper figurines, and paper money is burned when the dead are buried.The use of paper is becoming more and more extensive, and China has literally entered the era of paper at this time.Another manifestation of the progress of papermaking technology in the Sui, Tang and Five Dynasties compared with the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties is that the quality and processing technology of paper surpassed that of the previous dynasties, and the various precious papers produced were passed down to later generations.According to the test results of the ancient paper system, we found that the beating degree of Tang Dynasty paper is generally high, the fiber dispersion is good, the intertwining is tight and even, and the horizontal length of the paper surface is close to one meter.In order to meet the needs of writing and painting, Tang paper is clearly divided into raw paper and cooked paper.Raw paper is unprocessed paper that is directly copied from the paper bin and dried, while cooked paper is processed paper from raw paper.Zhang Yanyuan of the Tang Dynasty said in Volume 3 of "Famous Paintings of Past Dynasties" when talking about mounting paintings and calligraphy: "Don't use cooked paper [mounting] for the back, it will wrinkle. It is better to use white, slippery, thin and large-scale raw paper." Song Dynasty Shao Bo (? - AD 1158) ) Volume 28 of "Wearing and Seeing" says: "People in the Tang Dynasty had cooked paper and raw paper. There are different methods for the so-called beautiful and radiant cooked paper. Raw paper is not necessary for funeral accidents." Cooked paper is generally used for drawing and writing small characters, while raw paper is suitable for ink painting and large-character calligraphy.

From a technical analysis, in order to avoid smudges due to ink leakage when using the brush, it is necessary to block the capillary pores between the fibers of the paper surface in order to achieve the desired artistic effect.Effective measures are calendering, slurry dragging, powder filling, waxing, sizing, etc.The paper thus treated becomes "cooked". Volumes 810 and 26 of "Six Classics of the Tang Dynasty" and "New Book of Tang Baiguan Zhi" recorded that there were eight paper makers in the Hongwen Museum of Menxia Province, six in the National History Museum of Zhongshu Province, and cooked paper in the Secretary Province. There are 10 craftsmen and 10 decorators. The Chongwen Museum under the East Palace has a paper craftsman and a decorator.Their task is to process raw paper into cooked paper with special quality, color and appearance requirements suitable for writing, and then hand-write it in regular script, and then decorate it and carry it into a scroll.Just like in the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, one of the methods of making raw paper ripe in the Tang Dynasty was sizing, and the sizing agent used was starch.This kind of clerical paper can be seen from unearthed objects.However, although this kind of cooked paper has good ink absorption, it is not without disadvantages.If the paper is stored for a long time after being brushed with starch agent on the surface and is repeatedly curled, it will easily crack, and some small pieces will bulge the paper surface, which will cause the ink on the paper to fall off.So the Tang Dynasty used animal glue (and later plant glue) as the sizing agent.In order to effectively disperse the gelatin particles, alum, namely potassium aluminum sulfate (Al(SO)·24HO) was added as a precipitant.Or brush glue and alum on the paper surface, or mix it into pulp to pick up paper.This is the early form of today's paper surface sizing and paper internal sizing technology.Such sized papers overcome the disadvantages of using starches.Mi Fu, an artist of the Northern Song Dynasty, pointed out in "Ten Papers": "Sichuan hemp is not made of pulp, but yellow paper is made of glue, which is the case in Tang Dynasty." It means that the hemp paper produced in Sichuan does not use starch to become mature paper, but is processed with glue. It is made of yellow paper, which was used in imperial edicts of the Tang Dynasty.After the Song Dynasty, sizing alum was more common and was inherited from the Tang Dynasty.However, if you use Chinese ink to swipe, because the ink already contains colloid, and then use sizing paper that contains a lot of colloid, the ink will be dull and not vivid, so some people prefer to use raw paper.General documents or draft paper, paper for folk culture still use pulp to beat paper or raw paper.Animal glue was not used as a sizing agent for paper until 1337 in Europe, more than 600 years later than China.Since Europeans wrote with hard pens and mineral inks, sized paper became popular.

Among the yellow papers of the Tang Dynasty, there is a kind of waxed paper called hard yellow paper, which is the most valuable.The appearance of this paper is yellow or light yellow, the surface is very smooth, there is a crisp sound when touched by the hand, the light is translucent, moth-proof and water-resistant, and the texture is hard and dense.All important or solemn occasions are written on hard yellow paper.For example, Tang people in Dunhuang Shishi wrote the scriptures "Supreme Secret Essentials" (written in 718 AD) and Buddhist scriptures "Miaofa Lotus Sutra", and the Tang copy of "Long Live Tongtian Tie" handed down in the Liaoning Provincial Museum, etc. are all printed on hard yellow paper. Writing is sometimes used to copy Han and Jin calligraphy or to install and endorse scrolls.Song Zhao Xihu's "Dongtian Qinglu Collection" stated: "The hard yellow paper was used by the Tang people to book the scriptures, and the yellow bark was dyed to get rid of moths. All the authentic works of the two kings or the hard yellow paper in this world are imitations by the Tang people, not authentic works." Song Dynasty Zhang Shinan's "Official Tour Jiwen" said: "Hard yellow means putting the paper on a hot iron and spreading it evenly with yellow wax." This kind of paper is first dyed yellow with cork bark, and then coated with yellow wax on the paper, so the paper is thick and bright. , even after thousands of years, it still looks like a new work.However, it is easy to slip when using ordinary clear water to grind the ink for writing. You need to grind the ink with acacia water or soapy water before you can write.This is the ancestor of the wax paper of later generations.In the Tang Dynasty, there was also white wax paper for writing, which may be called "hard white".The old title Wu Cailuan wrote in the Palace Museum in Beijing is a precious ancient manuscript. Whether it was written by Wu Cailuan is quite doubtful, but it is undoubtedly handwritten by the Tang Dynasty from the handwriting identification.This paper is waxed and calendered on both sides. The paper is fine and twice as heavy as hard yellow. It is made by stacking two wet papers together to dry and dehydrate.The yellow white wax paper that was popular in the Song and Yuan Dynasties inherited the legacy of the hard yellow and hard white paper in the Tang Dynasty.This kind of waxy coated paper did not appear in Europe until 1866, more than 1,000 years later than China.

In the Tang Dynasty, there was also waxed paper filled with white mineral powder, or powdered wax paper, which was a product of combining the powder filling technology of the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties with the waxing technology of the Tang Dynasty. features.Song Mi Fu's "Book History", a book on the history of calligraphy art, said that Chu Suiliang, a famous calligrapher and Zhongshuling in the Tang Dynasty, wrote "Kurmu Fu" with waxed paper rubbings, and "Thousands of Thousands" written by Zhiyong, a calligrapher at the end of the Sui Dynasty. "Character" is also rubbed with Tang powder wax paper, and a piece of hemp paper inside is the authentic work.When this kind of paper is processed, white mineral fine powder is firstly calendered into the paper surface, and then wax is calendered, which is an innovative move.But such objects have not yet come into contact.Paper workers in the Tang Dynasty also borrowed some decorative techniques from lacquer workers and silk workers, and invented the processing technology of coating gold and silver flakes or gold and silver powder on paper.This kind of paper is called golden flower paper, silver flower paper or sprinkled gold and silver paper, cold gold paper and so on.In order to make the luster of precious metals eye-catching, various colored papers are used as the paper.Li Zhao of the Tang Dynasty said in "Han Lin Zhi" that all imperial court appointment letters for generals and ministers were made of silk paper with golden flowers and five colors. "The Biography of Concubine Yang" said that the great poet Li Bai wrote his peony poems on golden flower paper.The cold gold paper of the Tang Dynasty was still handed down in the Song Dynasty. Mi Fu's "Book History" mentioned that Wang Xizhi's "Yu Run Tie" "is a copy of double hooks on the cold gold paper of the Tang Dynasty".I once saw the golden flower paper of Tang Dynasty unearthed in Xinjiang in the 1970s.Because this kind of paper is expensive, it is a luxury, and it was only used by the upper class at that time.Xue Taojian of the Tang Dynasty, which was famous in history, has been mentioned before.This paper is also called Huanhuajian.Li Shangyin (813-858 A.D.) had a poem: "Huanhua paper is peach-colored, and the inscription chanting the jade hook." At that time, there was Baihuatan, also known as Huanhuatan, five miles south of Chengdu at that time. Very good paper.In addition to pink, this paper has also been dyed in ten colors.

In the Tang Dynasty, there were also calendered paper and flower curtain paper. This kind of paper can show shiny lines or patterns other than the curtain pattern when viewed against the light, with the purpose of adding to the potential beauty of the paper.The method of making Hualian paper is to weave textures or patterns on the papermaking bamboo curtains with threads, which are raised on the curtain surface. When papermaking, the pulp here is thin, so the textures are shiny and appear on the paper. Watermark paper.Calendered paper is a woodblock carved with textures or patterns that is pressed against the paper with force, so that the textures or patterns also appear on the paper.The securities paper, currency paper and some documents and letter papers that are common in later generations are made according to these principles.The origin of water pattern paper has not been clarified for a long time in the past. In 1907, the Frenchman Briquet (CM Briquet) said in his book "Les filigranes. Dictio-nnaire historique des marques du papier": "People don't know, or at least they haven't found the early The Chinese paper, Arabic paper and Moorish paper have the earliest reliable water pattern besides the curtain pattern. The earliest water pattern paper was found on the paper made in Fabriano, Italy in 1282.” But In fact, there were such records in ancient China, but Westerners did not pay attention.Yang Shen (AD 1488-1559), a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, said in the "Danqian Zonglu" based on the documents he studied: "In the Tang Dynasty, there was Juan (juan donated) paper, a Yanbo paper, and the writing on the paper was like hydrology. ""Jianzhi" is the paper used to replace taxes, "text" and "texture" are common, and "paper text is like hydrography" refers to the texture on the paper like water patterns. Obviously, Yanbo paper in the Tang Dynasty may be understood as water patterns Paper.As for calendered paper, Li Zhao of the Tang Dynasty said in "Tang Guoshi Supplement": "The wonderful paper is Yue (now Zhejiang)'s vines and moss paper, Shu's hemp noodles, scrap bones, golden flowers, long hemp, fish roe, Ten-colored paper..." The "Yuzijian" listed in it is the famous calendered paper in history.This paper was still being produced in Sichuan during the Northern Song Dynasty.Su Yijian of the Northern Song Dynasty wrote in "The Four Books of the Study · Paper Book": "The fine cloth is first used to make it strong with flour paste and glue, and the writing is hidden. It is called fish roe paper, and it is also called Luo (pattern) paper. Today Shan There is also a creek." The method is to first use fine linen cloth to brush with batter to make it strong, and then press it against the paper with force, and the texture of the cloth will appear on the paper, which is called caviar paper or ribbed paper. During the Five Dynasties, the papermaking technology was directly inherited from the Sui and Tang Dynasties. However, due to the feudal separatism between the north and the south and social turmoil, the development of technology in various regions was very uneven.Most of the hemp paper produced in the northwestern region of the Dunhuang stone chamber is not refined, and the calligraphy is not good.The handed down southern calligrapher Yang Ningshi (A.D. 873-954) used fine paper for his "Immortal Living Method", which is rather a reflection of the social and economic downturn at that time.But the "Chengxintang paper" used by the rulers at that time was the crown of the moment.Chengxintang is the hall where Li Min, the Liezu of the Southern Tang Dynasty, lived in Jinling (now Nanjing), where he lived, read and reviewed memorials.When Li Yu, the queen master of the Southern Tang Dynasty, set up an official bureau to supervise the production of famous paper for the imperial court, it was named Chengxintang Paper.Su Yijian wrote in "The Four Books of the Study · Paper Book": "In the Southern Tang Dynasty, there was Chengxintang paper, which was thin and smooth, and it was the best for a while." After the fall of the Southern Tang Dynasty, these papers were stored in the palace for half a century. know.It was not until the hands of some literati in the Northern Song Dynasty that it attracted the attention of the society.Liu Chang of the Song Dynasty obtained 100 Chengxintang papers from the palace, and later presented ten to Ouyang Xiu, who in turn presented two to Mei Yaochen.So they chanted poems and chanted to each other specially for this paper.Liu Chang's "Gong Shi Ji" said: "At that time, one piece was sold for a hundred gold, and there were tens of thousands of shafts in Chengxintang... There was nothing in the world, and I got a hundred pieces from the old mansion." Mei Yaochen's "Wanling Collection" also Said: "Slippery as spring and ice as dense as a cocoon, playing with surprises and lingering... The Li family in the south of the Yangtze River has a national day, and a hundred gold is not allowed to be sold. This is the only thing in the Chengxin Hall, which is dust-free in a quiet shop... It is now gone. For more than sixty years, they have been abandoned in the corners of big houses." Song Minqiu, a literati in the Northern Song Dynasty, also got some Chengxintang papers from the Southern Tang Neifu, and gave Mei Yaochen 100 more.So Mei Yaochen wrote another poem and chanted: "Saixi soaked the moon in the night, knocked on the ice and lifted the curtain to cut the fat evenly. It is as firm and smooth as paved jade after drying. There is no doubt that a piece of gold is a hundred gold... The ancient paper is clean and fleshy. , and the good things of the new year are also delayed." From the description of the people in Song Dynasty, we can know that Chengxintang paper is made of soaked mulberry skin. The fibers are as fine as silk, and the paper is thicker.Regarding the origin of Chengxintang paper, Pan Gu, a native of Shezhou (now Shexian, Anhui) in the Northern Song Dynasty, said in a poem: "Chengxin paper comes out of Xin'an County, and it is more than enough to hit the ice in the twelfth lunar month." It is also believed that: "Li Zhu Chengxintang [paper] is the first, it is Jiangnanchi and Sheer County, and it will no longer be a high-quality product in this world." It can be seen that the Chengxintang paper in the Southern Tang Dynasty in the Five Dynasties was made in the Shezhou area in southern Anhui today. .Using ice water to make paper in the twelfth lunar month is intended to get a good suspension effect of pulp fibers, but it brings pain to paper workers.They have to place a brazier next to the paper trough, and after making paper, bake their hands before copying, so paperworkers often suffer from occupational diseases of arthritis.Because the Chengxintang paper was more important than the Northern Song Dynasty, it was imitated in the Southern Song Dynasty, and it was also imitated in the Qing Dynasty.Therefore, we should pay attention to the difference between the authentic products of the Five Dynasties and the imitations of the Song and Qing Dynasties in history.For example, Tu Long of the Ming Dynasty said in "Kaopan Yushi": "I have tasted the Song version of "Hanshu",...each copy is made of Chengxintang paper." Cao Zhao of the Ming Dynasty said in "Gegu Yaolun": "Chengxintang paper was used by famous officials in the Song Dynasty to write and Li Boshi (named Gonglin, 1049-1106 A.D.) to paint on Chengxintang paper." Some people say that Ouyang Xiu used Chengxintang paper to draft "History of the Five Dynasties".All of these should be understood as Song imitation Chengxintang paper, rather than the original Southern Tang Dynasty paper, because it is impossible to use the Southern Tang Chengxintang paper with a hundred gold pieces at that time for drafting.