Behind the Scenes of Archaeological Discoveries: Rewriting Paper History (2)

A heritageist who restores ancient papermaking skills

[Witness witness] Zhuang Fuquan, 55, is one of the first non-material cultural heritage projects in China—the inheritor of Fuyang bamboo paper technology.

From 1009 to 2009, the annual rings just spanned a full millennium. How did the world-famous Fuyang papermaking process really evolve? Hearing is false, and seeing is true, the reporter has specifically found the inheritor of bamboo-paper skill, Zhuang Fuquan.

55-year-old Zhuang Fuquan is a representative inheritor of Fuyang Bamboo Paper. The village of Zhuangjia in Dayuan Town where he is located is one of the main villages of bamboo paper production in Fuyang. From the age of 15, Zhuang Fuquan began to learn handmade bamboo and paper making techniques. He told reporters that a piece of Yuanshuzhi, from bamboo to finished products, takes about 60 days before and after. The entire hand-crafting process generally involves more than 20 processes such as bamboo, white-cutting, dipping, cooking, turning over the beach, papermaking, drying paper, etc., and each process must be flow-through operation, and the rings are tightly attached, at one go, elaborately. It must not be sloppy. "The key to making high-quality meta-synthesized book papers is to select materials strictly, to do good work, and to have good water quality."

The first is "Qing Qing." In Fuyang dialect, “斫” means cut. Before and after the small hours, the Maoshan shoots of the mountains and fields began to husk and grow into tender bamboos, because the green bamboos are green and dripping, and the locals call it "green bamboo." The paperworkers who had spent the rest of the winter had to cut bamboos up the mountain. The cut bamboos are pulled through the shoulder smasher and transported in large bundles to a specially designed bamboo cutting farm. The paperworkers then chopped them into a section of bamboo bamboo that was about 2 meters in length and drove on a special shelf. The arched bamboo knife was used to cut the green peel of the tender bamboo. The process of "cutting bamboo" is relatively difficult, and requires masters with certain skills and experience to operate. The green bamboo peeled off was called white billet. The white billet was thrown on the big stone pier to break it into pieces. Then the bamboo knot was broken with a hammer, and the white billet was cut into a length of forty-five centimeters. , 15 kg weight is appropriate, a bundle tied, immersed in a pond, soaked in water for 5 to 20 days. After the “dipping”, the bundled white material is sent to the marina area and marinated with lime slurry. After the pulp has been dried, put another bundle into the skin and cook it. The skin pipa is one of the necessary hardware facilities for hand-made paper. In general, skin pods can be used to cook 600-800 bales of white material, covered with straw or bamboo culms, and immersed in white water. Ascending fire cooking materials, according to bamboo material old and tender, the climate is hot and cold, the cooking time is slightly longer, generally 4 to 5 days shall prevail. One day after extinguishing the fire, the cooked white material can be picked up, rolled over and soaked in fresh water for 10-15 days until it matures.

Zhuang Fuquan revealed that the most difficult process in the production process is the papermaking process. Papermaking, also known as fishing, is a common picture used to introduce bamboo paper making techniques. The method of copying bamboo paper in Fuyang is basically the same as the record of making bamboo paper in Tiangong Kaiwu, but the technique is more refined and refined. First put the fine fluffy fines into the paper tank, and stir with water to make it dissolve evenly and become a thin slurry. The papermakers put the curtain beds into the troughs and put the slurry into the curtains. The bamboo curtains move freely around the wrist as the wrists move. The curtains are balanced on the curtain to achieve uniform thickness. Then, the curtain bed is slowly tilted forward so that the excess pulp or coarse fiber bundles are shaken from the front, and water is filtered out from under the curtains. A thin layer of pulp film is deposited on the bamboo screen. This is wet. Paper sheet. The filmed bamboo curtain is picked up from the curtain bed and reversed onto the bottom plate of the paper rack. The bamboo curtain is lifted gently and a wet sheet is left on the plate. This is a piece of paper to copy once, keep copying, to a certain number and then dry. Zhuang Fuquan said that this process is the most labour-intensive and can only be reproduced with high-quality paper with full-handed feelings and eye concerns. Generally, it takes two to three years for the paperworker to take the thickness of the paper.

Wet paper must be baked to become a piece of paper that can be written. The roasted paper has a special drying room, called iron picking. In the iron shovel, the paper maker uses a special “goose hoe” to make a few strokes on the paper tube to loosen it, and then uses the index finger and thumb to grip the upper right corner of the paper tube. The paper angle is slightly warped. From the beginning, the mouth is blown again and again, so that the wet paper sheets are separated, and then they are peeled off and affixed to the broiled wall with the thin slurry. In the blink of an eye, the corners of the dried paper are naturally curled up, one sheet is peeled off, and the broken ones are removed. Paper drying is a delicate task, and wet paper can be damaged if it is not properly applied. Asked the paper master to luck paper, fingers light, neat, fast, in addition to high speed, but also tanned, stacked neatly, the number of accurate, quite difficult.

Now, in the bamboo paper production areas such as Huyuan, Dayuan and Lingqiao in Fuyang City, many hand-made paper workshops can still be seen. The paperworkers followed the ancestral laws and inherited authentic handmade papermaking techniques in the cutting of bamboo, materials, and paper.

A plan to protect the site of papermaking

[Witness witness] Zhang Renlong, 47, deputy general commander of the 320 National Road Reconstruction Command of Fuyang.

When the reporter saw Zhang Renlong, he was pondering over a large number of construction drawings. Since the unearthing of the site of the Song Dynasty paper mill in Gaozhou Meizhou Village in September last year, it has received extensive attention from various quarters. Authoritative experts in China have determined that this is the earliest ancient papermaking workshop in China. “This important sensation of archeological discovery in the country has encountered a difficult problem: The site is located on the construction site of Gaozhou Paozhou Village in the Fuyang section of National Highway 320, which means that this huge site has blocked the national road.” Zhang Renlong introduced.

This is the original 320 national road reconstruction plan did not think of. What to do next? Is it Paul Road or is it protected from ruins?

State Road 320 starts from Shanghai and ends at Ruili, Yunnan, passing through Fuyang. It is a major road project currently being organized by Fuyang. According to the design and planning, the design standard for the 320 National Road Reconstruction Project is a national first class highway and requires a speed of 100 kilometers per hour. “Just in early March, the Fuyang Municipal Committee and the municipal government made a decision at the secretary’s office meeting, and the 320 national highway was shifted westward to take the initiative to give way to the protection of the sites. This time, it was necessary to change the line to 4,650 meters and increase the cost by 32.1 million yuan. "In front of the reporter, Zhang Renlong sighed for a long time.

In view of the significant archaeological value of the site of the papermaking workshop in Paozhou village of Gaoqiao, the group of experts recommended that the site be preserved. Zhang Zhongpei, president of the Former Palace Museum, said: “The ruins of Songzhou papermaking workshop are of great significance to the history of Chinese papermaking. We must try our best to protect it. If conditions permit, it is better to build a special paper museum in China.” Fuyang has a long history of papermaking. If the excavation and protection of the Pazhou papermaking workshop site are carried out, it can be used as a gold signboard for the Fuyang papermaking industry to prove to the world the long history of Fuyang Papermaking and also to promote the development of related industries. To this end, the provincial and municipal authorities have researched and proposed 3 sets of protection programs, and Fuyang has finally determined the second type of program: the selection of site protection and display synchronization. That is, the site of the paper mill site is protected, and at the same time, a special museum of papermaking sites is established, so that the 320 National Road detours from the edge of the papermaking workshop.

“September last year, the 320 National Road reconstruction had completed the basic work such as surface soil rectification in the first contract segment. After the site was considered to have significant research value, considering the importance of related cultural relics and the feasibility of the relocation plan, the 320 National Road The construction command immediately decided to suspend the construction of the contract section where the site was located.” In retrospect, Zhang Renlong felt that the move was worth it. In February of this year, the relevant department of Fuyang Municipality submitted a letter to “Opinions on the K2+400-K7+100 Section Avoiding Cultural Relocation Plan” to the 320 National Road Construction Command, and confirmed the line change plan: the first contract section of the 320 National Road West Move away from the core area of ​​the papermaking workshop site, in which the maximum value of the middle route of the route is 56.50 meters, and the minimum distance from the red line of the road to the papermaking workshop is 8 meters.

According to Zhang Renlong, a detail is also mentioned in the 320 National Road Rerouting Plan, that is, the elevation and subgrade of the line segment will be reduced. “This will reduce the vibration of passing vehicles and minimize the impact of the national road on the site.” The site of the Song Dynasty paper making workshop in Songzhou is located in our construction bid. It is a wonderful encounter. It is a major discovery of the Fuyang Archaeology and is also one of the four major inventions in China. It is the best demonstration of papermaking. We certainly strongly support it and give full consideration to the opinion of the cultural relics department. , proceeded to change the 320 National Road to change the line!” Although the scope of the site involved is not wide, but the 320 national highway reconstruction engineering design level for the first-class highway, the entire line of technical indicators require a higher level, so the line will reach 4.65 kilometers, increase the cost of 32.1 million Yuan is a major change. Pointing to a bunch of recently completed design drawings on the desk, Zhang Renlong said that after the approval of the adjustment line plan, the route needs to be reassessed and the construction unit re-enters the field. “This way, the construction project downtime is estimated to be up to seven. Eight months, but we will be quick to make sure that the entire 320 National Road project will be completed on schedule!"