Hunan Provincial Department of Cultural & Tourism

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Cai Lun

2022-05-20

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Cai Lun (61 or 63 A.D. - 121 A.D.), with courtesy name Jing Zhong, was born in Guiyang (in present-day Southeastern Hunan Province) in the Eastern Han Dynasty. He was a senior official of the imperial court, managing documents and participating in imperial politics. When he was responsible for the manufacturing industry, Cai summarized people’s papermaking experience in the past to innovate and improve the papermaking process. He was the inventor of Cai’s Paper.

Papermaking improved by Cai Lun was listed as one of the four great inventions in ancient China. It was promoted to the whole world along the Silk Road through Central Asia and Western Europe, and made an indelible contribution to the inheritance and development of world civilization. Cai was therefore regarded as the ancestor of papermaking and the God of Paper.

Cai ranked 7th in Mike Hart’s list of 100 most influential people in history. He was also on the list of best inventors in history published by Times. Cai’s improved papermaking was displayed at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

To commemorate him, later generations built Cai Lun Temple as well as Cai Lun Memorial Park, issued Cai Lun stamps and set up Cai Lun Award for the Chinese papermaking.