xuan paper making techniques is a traditional handicraft skill in jingxian county, eastern china’s anhui province. the skill was approved by the state council and was listed in the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage in 2006. xing chunrong and cao guanghua are the national inheritors of xuan paper making skill. making one piece of high quality xuan paper will cost at least one year, and should follow with 18 manual processes and more than 100 different operating procedures, including stripping bark, stewing, long-term soaking, drying in the sun, struck, rinsing, pulping, collecting pulp, squeezing, baking and cutting paper.
xuan papers are pure white and fine, high flexibility, high wear resistance, good for painting and calligraphy and anti-corrosion and mothproof. so, it has the reputation of “paper life for thousands of years” and “the king of paper”. its outstanding features not only closely relate to raw materials used, but also benefit from the special natural environment and high quality spring water in jingxian county. one way to classify the xuan paper is according to the content of wingceltis bark in the material ratio. specifically, wingceltis content reached 40% was called mian liao, wingceltis content reached 60% was called jing pi, and wingceltis content reached 80% was called te jing. another classification of xuan paper is based on whether alum is added to the paper, and the paper can be divided into sheng xuan and shu xuan. plant fibers are the main raw materials of xuan paper, such as bamboo fibers and wood fibers. in this way, xuan paper has a strong ability to absorb ink and bright colors can be presented on it.
xuan paper is an unique handicraft which was created by laboring people in ancient china, and it is undoubtedly the best handmade paper for traditional chinese calligraphy. since xuan paper came out in tang dynasty, it has been concerned by all walks of life and refined scholars. entries:
1.xuan paper 2.jingxian county 3.national intangbile cultural heritage 4.national inheritor 5.xing chunrong 6.cao guanghua 7.stripping 8.stewing 9.long-term soaking 10.drying in the sun 11.struck 12.rinse 13.pulping 14.paper pulp collecting 15.squeezing 16.baking 17.paper cutting 18.wingceltis bark 19.king of paper 20.tang dynasty
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