CHINA AND THE
THE CHINESE.
Paper-Made eighteen hundred years ago-Tradition of the Mandarin who made the discovery-Paper made from various substancesAncient Chinese author-Ink, when first used and how made-Chinese receipt for the preparation of ink-Pens, and mode of writing — Printing - Mode of cutting characters Bookbindings Chinese literary works.
THE Chinese affirm that eighteen centuries ago they had discovered the secret and means of manufacturing paper; before that invention, they used to inscribe written characters on thin strips of bamboo, or sheets of metal, using a style, or pen of iron for the purpose of marking the characters; and this, they assert, had been the practice of their nation from the most remote ages. Before the art of paper-making had arrived at perfection, the Chinese adopted the practice of writing upon white silk, or cotton, with a bamboo pen; this was found a more convenient method than writing either on strips of bamboo or sheets of metal, as the silk or linen could be folded into a small compass.
In the first century of the Christian era, during the Han dynasty, a mandarin, who was attached to the