Cai Lun, the inventor of papermaking, why was there already a war on paper during the Warring States period?
Zhao Kuo", as a well-known idiom, when it comes to this idiom, the first thing that comes to people's minds is:"Zhao Kuo"。After all, the "Dictionary of Chinese Idioms" points out that Zhao Kuo is an allusion, and the source of this story is Sima Qian's "Historical Records - Lian Po Lin Xiangru Biography". However, many people will question"Papermaking"Did it only appear in the Eastern Han Dynasty? Why did the Warring States period appear"Papermaking"What is the moral of ?
First of all,"paper"It's not paper in the first place.
The Biography of the Later Han Dynasty-Cai Lun records:"Since ancient times, bamboo leaves have been used as books, and silk has been used as books'paper'。Silk is expensive and unpleasant"。Here"Silk Tape"Refers to a thin and fine silk fabric that can also be used for writing"Silk Tape"Also called"paper"。
In September 1942, archaeologists found a fragment of a silk book in the tomb of Chu Danziju in Changsha, Hunan, which is the oldest surviving fragment of a silk book from the Warring States period. It is the oldest surviving fragment of a Warring States silk book, with a length of about 33 centimeters and a width of about 41 centimeters, with two sets of characters in opposite directions, one set of 13 lines and one set of 8 lines. There are more than 900 characters in the whole silk book, which is round inside and square outside, and cut tightly.
In addition, it is already available in "Chinese - Vietnamese"."The king of Yue has a book"The records of the mid-to-late Spring and Autumn Period,"Books"has begun to appear on writing desks. However, due to"Silk Tape"** Expensive, not widespread, usually only used by princes and nobles to collect books.
Before the Northern and Southern Dynasties began to use paper on a large scale,"paper"Not a proper noun, not specifically referring to paper. "Silk Tape"And later"Silk"、"Square flocculent"etc., which are not traditionally used in the sense of paper, but are also called"paper"。
Secondly,"paper"It was born long before the Eastern Han Dynasty.
Speaking of"Papermaking"The first thing that comes to people's mind is Cai Lun of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but in fact, Cai Lun only developed the papermaking process"paper"The history is longer than that of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In order to commemorate Cai Lun's exploits, later generations called Cai Lun's invention of papermaking"Cai Hou Paper"。
Hanshu - Biography of Relatives - Empress Xiaocheng Zhao"."There are two pieces of medicine in Wu Fa Zheng"The record is here"with"refers to a kind of light and delicate"Confetti"(It can also be said to be a small piece of silk), which is used instead of silk as a writing instrument. Here"Washi"Refers to a kind of thin and lightweight"Red colored paper"(it can also be said to be a small piece of silk), which was used in place of silk as a writing instrument.
Archaeologists have also found paper from the Western Han Dynasty at the Fumatan site in Tianshui, Gansu, the Fengsui site in Maquanwan in Dunhuang, and the site of Hanging Spring Zhiyi in Dunhuang, which is enough to prove that before Cai Lun developed the paper industry (about 170 years ago), there were already usable forms of paper in the Western Han Dynasty.
However, due to the poor quality of paper in the early days, it was difficult to use it for writing, and at the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the quality improved, and Cai Lun made improvements with reference to papermaking raw materials and papermaking processes, so that the quality of paper was improved and the production cost was reduced, so that the paper could gradually be used for writing.
However, due to the limitations of the production process and raw materials, the production cost of paper was still high, which still could not make it the main tool for writing, and it was not until after the Northern and Southern Dynasties, with the continuous improvement of the production process, that the use of paper was further expanded. After the Sui and Tang dynasties, paper was used on a large scale in the production of bamboo paper.
Finally,"** "The exact ** of the term is not found in the historical record.
Although"On paper"The protagonist is Zhao Kuo in the middle and late Warring States period, and the allusion comes from Sima Qian's "Historical Records - Lian Po Lin Xiangru Biography", but in fact"On paper"The term appeared much later than this period.
In Lian Po and Lin Xiangru's "Historical Records-Biography","On paper"The full text of the word never appears, only Lin Xiangru's evaluation of Zhao Kuo has a similar meaning:"Including only knowing the father's military book, but not knowing the flexibility. It means that Zhao Kuo only knows his father's military book, but he doesn't know how to be flexible.
Information can be found at the moment"Talk on paper"Of course, it was by the Qing Dynasty writer Cao Xueqin"Talk on paper", he wrote in his work "Dream of the Red Chamber", in which he wrote:"There is this poet here, but he goes to the paper every day"。Similarly, the Qing Dynasty writer Wei Yuan wrote in his work "The Legend of Shengwu"."Today's paper makes people laugh, but I don't know the paper business, yes. There are shades of depth"。
Judging from the above two paragraphs,"On paper"It appeared in the middle of the Qing Dynasty, but it seems to have nothing to do with Zhao Kuo, mainly referring to the literati who could only talk about it and not put it into practice. Shen Baozhen did not enter until the late Qing Dynasty"On paper"Linked to Zhao Kuo, Ma Tan, Yin Hao, Fang Guan, Zhao Yuan and others.
Today, a mention"On paper", we will think of Zhao Kuo. This is mainly because the modern writer Lin Handa wrote a book "Five Thousand Years Up and Down", in which many historical figures and historical stories were written in vernacular, of which the 40th article is "Zhao Kuo Talks on Paper". Title 40 is"Zhao Kuo talked on paper"。
As a popular historical academic work, it has been reprinted more than ten times before and after, with far-reaching influence, and finally left it to the people"On paper"Refers specifically to Zhao Kuo's impression. Nowadays, many idioms are in the dictionary"On paper"and Zhao Kuo refer to Zhao Kuo.
To sum up, although Zhao Kuo is a figure in the Warring States Period, talking on paper was at least popular after the Eastern Han Dynasty, but"On paper"The origin of the term and its connection with Zhao Kuo actually went through a long period of time, and this event undoubtedly came much later than the Warring States period.
Actually,"On paper"The original meaning of this idiom is most commonly used to describe unrealistic rhetoric, here"paper"It can be silk, bamboo slips, paper segments, bells, signs, including all text carriers, and I feel that it has been attached to"paper"This particular referent.