Cai Lun

Also known as Zi Jingzhong · Long Tinghou

Cai Lun, courtesy name Jingzhong, came from Guiyang and entered the palace as a eunuch late in the Yongping reign. Under Emperor He he became a regular palace attendant with a voice in policy and also directed the imperial workshops, whose swords and tools were known for fine work. Since silk was costly and bamboo heavy, the History of the Later Han (Hou Hanshu) says, he made paper from tree bark, hemp ends, rags and old fishing nets, presenting it to the emperor in 105; it came into general use as Marquis Cai's paper. In 114 Empress Dowager Deng made him Marquis of Longting. Earlier he had helped Empress Dowager Dou frame Consort Song, and when her grandson Emperor An took power in 121 and sent him to the courts, he bathed, dressed formally and took poison. Since finds of Western Han hemp paper at Baqiao and elsewhere in the twentieth century, scholars have generally treated him as an improver of papermaking rather than its inventor.