Blog Post Four: Paper

Before there was paper as we know it, communication took the form of images and symbols painted on cave walls, carved into tree bark, and written on papyrus or clay tablets. Chinese inventors advanced communication some 2,000 years ago by creating fabric sheets to preserve their text sketches. The first paper was created by Ts'ai Lun, a Chinese court official, in LeiYang, China. Ts'ai most likely made the thin mat by combining mulberry bark, hemp, and rags with water, pulverizing the mixture into pulp, pressing out the liquid, and hanging it to dry in the sun. This is how paper as we know now, came into being.

About 300 years after Ts'ai's discovery, in the 8th century, the knowledge reached what is now the Middle East. The introduction of paper making to Europe, however, took another 500 years. The first paper mill was constructed in Spain, and soon mills all over Europe were producing paper. Paper was then utilized for printing important books, bibles, and legal papers as it was significant quantities of paper, and for many years, it provided the colonies with paper. The first American paper mill was eventually constructed in Pennsylvania in 1690.

Initially, American paper mills produced by shredding leftover rags and clothing into individual fibers, a Chinese technique. However, when the need for paper increased, the mills switched to using wood fiber instead of cloth since it was less expensive and more readily available. Paper is now produced using recycled paper and trees cultivated in sustainability managed forests. Making paper has always included recycling. Paper mills will use the used paper you recycle to create new notebook paper, paper grocery bags, cardboard boxes, envelopes, magazines, cartons, newspapers and other paper goods.

Paper has the special advantage of being appropriate for handwriting and printing. Paper revolutionized trade and business as well. Chinese merchants and dealers received the first paper money in the form of promissory notes backed by precious metals in the 13th century. Along with adding the much-needed degree of safety, it offered a strong, portable substitute for moving bullion. The widespread use of paper money or banknotes eventually led to an exponential rise in the volume of both domestic and international trade, establishing the groundwork for the linked global financial system we have today. 

Paper has seen a remarkable revolution in terms of form, production, and use during the past over 2000 years since it was created in ancient China. While the amount of printed copy in circulation has decreased due to the widespread use of digital media, recycling has become a significant component of the paper manufacturing business, and banknotes may soon become obsolete due to electronic payments. Despite all of this, paper has remained a constant in modern life and will do so for a considerable amount of time to come. Many people still favor the texture of a book or printed newspaper nowadays. They value the closeness that comes with reading a handwritten note or invitation card when it is enclosed in an envelope. The natural choice for mind mapping, doodling, and jotting is paper. It is the origin of some of the most influential concepts in human history, and it will always be the preferred laboratory of the most inventive minds.