A cultural paper trail

Collaborative effort

Making Xuan paper is extremely demanding, and it takes nearly three years to produce a batch of it, through 108 procedures. An artisan can only skillfully master some of them in their lifetime.

For example, although he knows all the other procedures, Zhou, a master in laozhi, specializes in that one area and the procedures it entails, since each requires long-term practice to attain the necessary level of skill. As a result, the whole papermaking process requires collaborative effort.

Five people form a group, two for laozhi, two for shaizhi (drying paper) and one for jianzhi (checking quality of and cutting paper). Work results of the whole group are evaluated together. "There are high demands for the appearance, evenness and weight of the finished products. The weight of one piece of Xuan paper has only a 1-gram margin of error. Paper that does not meet the standard will be sent back for reproduction, and we will not get paid for it," says Zhou.

"It's all about group spirit, tacit understanding and mutual trust."

The earliest record of Xuan paper can be found in On Famous Paintings Through the Ages, a book written by Tang Dynasty (618-907) scholar Zhang Yanyuan, in which he described the function of Xuan paper: It is a carrier of calligraphy and painting.