In the development of human history, people need to inherit their ancestors' knowledge, experience and inventions about the world through a medium. In the era when writing was not invented, people had to rely on their mouths. Although people have also invented the method of tying knots, they often make mistakes because they can't recognize what knots stand for. After the invention of writing, human beings tried all kinds of natural objects to record writing. According to historical speculation, the earliest written records appeared in China about 6000 years ago. At first, people recorded words on animal bones, tortoise shells or stones, and later it gradually developed into silk, and more common bamboo slips and wooden slips.

[Bamboo Slips]

bamboo slip

The oldest books in China are made of bamboo slips or wooden slips. However, books made of this material are heavy and bulky, so it is inconvenient to read and carry. It is said that Dong Fangshuo's "An Interview with the Emperor" in the Western Han Dynasty consisted of 3,000 bamboo slips, which were to be carried to the main hall by two strong guards. At that time, the so-called "learning five cars" scholars did not actually read many books, but only read five cars of bamboo slips and wooden slips. The amount of information it contains is hard to compare with a thick book now. People in the Jin Dynasty excavated Wei Xiangwang's tomb during the Warring States Period, and got 15 ancient bamboo slips, about 65,438+10,000 words and dozens of cars. It can be seen that this kind of book is bulky.

book copied on silk

A book copied from silk

In order to reduce the weight of writing materials, people began to use silk as a new writing material. However, due to the high price of silk itself, it is difficult to popularize it. In the Han Dynasty, a handful of rice (2.2 Han feet wide and 4.0 Han feet long) reached six stones (720 Han Jin). Only a few royal aristocrats can enjoy it, and ordinary people simply can't afford it. During the Western Han Dynasty, the new school education was unprecedentedly prosperous, and both schools and students needed cheaper and more convenient writing tools. As a result, a better writing material-paper came into being.