A Woman Gracefully Demonstrates the Traditional Chinese Art of Making Paper by Hand

Li Ziqi very gracefully demonstrated the traditional Chinese art of making paper from scratch. Throughout, Li showed each deliberate step involved in this beautiful process including tree cutting, stripping, drying, rehydrating, boiling, mashing it into a paste, and setting it into a form, creating a big beautiful sheet of paper. Her YouTube channel features many more great videos of her creating things.

(translated) The origins of handmade paper dates back to the early years of the Western Han Dynasty when the 2nd century BC, when our ancestors started making the most primitive paper with bark and bark. In this age that already possesses a large amount of mechanized paper production, I hope we can know how ancestors used one hand to make China the first country in the world to invent paper!

Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.