Cai Lun Biography

Cai Lun	Born: 0050-00-00 Birthplace: Guiyang Died: 0121-00-00 Location of Death: Guiyang Cause of Death: Suicide Race: Asian Field: Inventor Famous for: Inventor of paper
Top 100 Influencial People #7 Field: Inventor

Cai Lun was a Chinese eunuch, who is conventionally regarded as the inventor of paper and the papermaking process, in forms recognizable in modern times as paper (as opposed to Egyptian papyrus). Although paper existed in China before Cai Lun, he was responsible for the first significant improvement and standardization of papermaking by adding essential new materials into its composition.

Cai Lun was born in Guiyang during the Eastern Han Dynasty. After serving as a court eunuch since 75 AD, he was given several promotions under the rule of Emperor He. In 89 AD he was promoted with the title of Shang Fang Si (an office in charge of manufacturing instruments and weapons) and he also became a paperwork secretary. Later, he became involved in intrigue, as a supporter of Empress Dou. He was involved in the death of her romantic rival, Consort Song. Afterwards, he became an associate of Empress Deng Sui. In 121, after Consort Song's grandson Emperor An assumed power after Empress Deng's death, Cai was ordered to report to prison. Before he was to report, he committed suicide by drinking poison after taking a bath and dressing in fine robes.

In 105 AD, Cai Lun (along with help from an imperial consort Deng) invented the composition for real paper along with the papermaking process. Although tools and machinery of papermaking in modern times may be more complex, they still employ the ancient technique of felted sheets of fiber suspended in water, draining of the water, and then drying into a thin matted sheet.

As listed above, the papermaking process included the mixture of materials like bark, hemp, silk, and even fishing net, but his exact formula has been lost to history. Emperor He of Han was pleased with the invention and granted Cai an aristocratic title and great wealth. Cai Lun was also later revered in Chinese ancestor worship. Fei Zhu of the later Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) wrote that a temple in honor of Cai Lun had been erected in Chengdu, where several hundred families involved in the papermaking industry traveled five miles from the south to come and pay respects.