Chapter 8 Chapter 8 Chinese Papermaking in Central Asia, West Asia and North Africa

The ancient books of countries in Central Asia and West Asia are collectively known as the countries of the Western Regions. They communicated with China as early as the Western Han Dynasty. Silk, ironware, medicinal materials, and paper were imported from China to these regions.In the Tang Dynasty, the commercial routes leading to the countries in the Western Regions flourished again, and envoys and merchants almost met each other. After the 20th century, both silk and ancient paper were unearthed along this land passage. In 1900, Sven Hedin, a Swede, discovered Wei and Jin paper documents at the Loulan site in Xinjiang, mostly hemp paper. In 1901, British Aurel Stein discovered Eastern Han calligraphy paper in Xinjiang. In 1933, Huang Wenbi dug up Western Han hemp paper in Lop Nur.And Xinjiang is the only place leading to Central Asia and West Asia. Chinese paper was trafficked westward through Gansu and Xinjiang by camel caravans, and merchants from the Western Regions also stayed in Gansu and Xinjiang to engage in trade. In 1907, Stein discovered in Dunhuang nine letters written in Sogdian in Central Asia written on hemp paper, which were written by Nanai Vandak, a Central Asian businessman living in Liangzhou, to Zaiza in 311-313. A friend of Samarkand.Sogdia is close to the Caspian Sea, so it can be seen that the people of Sogdia had written on Chinese paper as early as the Eastern Jin Dynasty, and at the same time transported paper to Central Asia.

Paper documents written in different languages ​​such as Tukhara, Persian, Syriac, Greek, and Sanskrit were also unearthed in Xinjiang and Gansu, all of which are evidence of foreigners using paper in China. They date from the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.In the 7th and 8th centuries A.D., during the heyday of the Tang Dynasty in China, the Arab Islamic Empire also rose in the West, and successively established Umayyad (661-750 A.D.) with its capital in Damascus and Abbas (750-1257 A.D.) with its capital in Baghdad. Two dynasties.Chinese history books refer to the Arab Empire as Dashi, which is transliterated from Persian Tajik or Tazi.The Tang Empire and the Arab Empire were two powerful and vast countries in the world at that time, and the spheres of influence of the two countries were connected in Central Asia.In the second year of Emperor Gaozong Yonghui of Tang Dynasty (AD 651), Othman (Othman, the third caliph (ruler) of Dashi Kingdom (644-656 AD) sent an envoy to Tang Dynasty.The two countries have both friendly exchanges and conflicting interests.For political and economic interests, the two sides competed for the control of Central Asia, which eventually led to military conflicts.

In the tenth year of Tianbao (751 A.D.), the Tang Empire and Dashi deployed troops in Talas (in present-day Kazakhstan) in Central Asia.The Tang Army was commanded by Anxi Jiedu Envoy Gao Xianzhi, and the Great Food Army was commanded by Ziyadibn Calih.During the battle, some soldiers of the Tang army were captured, and it was discovered that there were paper workers among them. Dashi had been seeking the secret of paper making, so he asked the Chinese prisoners of war to teach it, which led to the spread of paper making to the west.The Arab scholar Biruni (Al-Biruni, AD 973-1048) said in "India Chronicles": "Papermaking began in China...Chinese prisoners of war imported the papermaking method into Samarkand, and since then many places have started papermaking. Come to meet the needs of the time.” Therefore, since 751, the paper mill directed by the Chinese in Samarkand began to produce hemp paper.

Since there were paper mills in Arabia, paper was exported to Europe, adding new income to the empire.Then, in 793, a second paper mill was established in Baghdad. The technical force came from Samarkand, and it was undoubtedly put into operation with the participation of the Chinese.Since then, Prime Minister Jafar of the Great Food Kingdom has ordered that all government documents be written on paper instead of expensive sheepskin. In the 9th century, a paper mill was built in Tihamah in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula, and a larger paper mill was built in Damascus in the 10th century.As the Arab influence extended to northern Africa, papermaking was also introduced to Africa. In 641, the Umayyad dynasty sent troops to conquer Egypt, bringing Arab culture and laws and regulations to the conquered areas. Around 900 years ago, the first paper mill in Africa was established in today's Cairo.The development of the paper industry in Egypt has added another base for exporting paper to Europe. The Fatimid Dynasty (969-1170 AD), established in 969, was based in Cairo, a Muslim regime in Egypt, until the time of Abu Ali Mansur al-Hatim (996-1021 AD) The economy and culture of this dynasty were quite developed, and the second papermaking base in Africa was established in Fez (Fez) in present-day Morocco around 1100 years ago.Therefore, in the 349 years from 751 to 1100, there were six paper factories successively in Central Asia, West Asia and North Africa, all of which produced hemp paper according to the Chinese method, and paper became popular in Arabia.

From 1877 to 1878, 100,000 ancient manuscripts were unearthed in al-Faiyum, al-Ushmunein and Ikhmin in Egypt, spanning nearly 2,700 years (14th century BC-AD In the 14th century), it was written in 10 different languages, most of which were written on sedge tablets, but also on parchment and paper. This discovery shocked the world.Among them, the Arabic dated paper documents are replaced by the Gregorian calendar, corresponding to 791, 874, 900 and 909 AD. They are all hemp paper with curtain patterns on the paper, which is the same as the hemp paper of the Tang Dynasty in China.Apparently the Arabic paper was made using Chinese Tang Dynasty techniques.The Arab author Ibn Badis (Al-Mucizzibn Badis, AD 1007-1061) narrated the papermaking process also showed that the basic process was the same as that in China, and the manufacturing process included soaking hemp in water, chopping, pounding, Washing, pulping, papermaking, drying and calendering, the raw material is rags.He also mentions cooking, but the order of this process in the papermaking process is unclear.Also talked about the method of dyeing paper.According to the comprehensive study of ancient Arabic documents by Austrian expert J.Karabacek, when making paper, first select the rags, remove the dirt, and then boil them with lime water. After washing the boiled hemp, use stone mortar, wood Crush sticks or water pestles, make slurry with water in a tank, make paper with paper molds, press it with heavy objects when it is half dry, and finally form paper.This is consistent with Chinese technology.

After Samarkand made paper, its paper became a famous commodity. In 869, Juhith said: "There are Egyptian papyrus tablets in the west, and Samarkand paper in the east." In addition to the paper produced in Damascus in Syria, the city of Bambycina also produced paper. "ChartaBam-bycina" was originally the meaning of Banbi paper. Because Bambycina was followed by Bombycina (cotton), Europeans once mistakenly called Banbycina "tissue paper".From the time of Marco Polo until 1885, Europe has long believed that Arabic paper is cotton paper, which is a misunderstanding.From the evolution of the writing materials used in the above-mentioned unearthed manuscripts in Egypt, we can also see that paper and papyrus are winning steadily in the competition.In the 2nd century of the Muslim calendar (719-815 AD), there are 36 pieces of sedge tablets, and few paper copies.In the 3rd century of the Islamic calendar (816-912 AD), there were 96 pieces of sedge tablets and 24 pieces of papyrus in the Arabic chronicles, while in the 4th century of the Muslim calendar (913-1009 AD), there were 77 pieces of sedge tablets and only 9 pieces of sedge tablets. The last dated document on a sedge tablet is 936.Paper has basically replaced sedge tablets in Arabia since the 10th century AD.A Persian tourist said in 1480 that he saw vegetable and spice sellers in Cairo wrapping their goods in paper.A century later, says Baghdad doctor Abdul-Latif, traders used wrapping paper made of rags, while some were excavating ancient sites to peel off the bandages wrapped around mummified bodies to make paper , so this kind of paper must be used in the food market. In 1294, the Arab region also issued banknotes according to the Chinese model.