Here you can find a summary of one of the articles from our Webzine SILKROADIA VOL.4 NO.1. To find out more, please download the Webzine and refer to “The Origin of Paper and the Silk Road” written by USSUN-HUFS Research & Study Team.
Thanks to the invention of paper, humankind has accumulated a tremendous amount of information built for us to acquire a deeper understanding of the nature surrounding us. While paying attention to its importance, the USSUN and HUFS Research & Study team explore the journey of human civilization alongside the paper from the moment of its origin to our digital world in the context of the Silk Road.
The authors introduce the prototype of paper, Egyptian Papyrus, and Chinese Paper, providing extensive changes across the ancient world. According to the article, paper had gradually replaced the other alternative means for recording such as clay tablets, bamboo boards, and parchments that were made from the materials such as sheep’s skins or silk.
After the Chinese court official Chae-Ryun (Cai Lun) had introduced the lighter and relatively cheaper paper in the first century CE, the Islamic world embraced the new paper passionately. Then it spread to European countries from the 12th century through the 16th century.
The Silk Road served its role to propagate the paper and promote its usage by which different ideas and knowledge were spurred across the world. Upon its arrival, literature and arts could flourish in the Islamic world, especially in Baghdad. It also affected the later European Renaissance.
Even though humans have used the paper for many years, the authors point out that few questions remain including the ways the paper was accepted in each specific region, how local people used it, and how it changed the cultures.
