This short story was written for the Hong Kong Young Writer’s Awards 2024. This year’s theme was “New Tales of China’s Inventions”. Students were allowed to write about the old and new Chinese inventions everyone uses today!

Before I start, I have a few questions to ask you. What device are you using to read my article? Is it a phone, a laptop, or are you reading a printed copy? And when it comes to drawing, are you using an iPad or good old-fashioned paper? Would it surprise you if I told you that something you see every day actually came from China? I’m referring to paper! Yes, that includes toilet paper too.

There is no doubt that paper has become an essential part of our lives. We use it for writing, wrapping, and countless other daily things. However, the question remains: how well do we truly know and understand the value of paper?'

Let’s start with its history, shall we? Paper was originally invented in Egypt, by pressing papyrus stems together. However, the earliest form of paper as we know it, made up of a mesh of randomly arranged plant fibers, was invented between 200 B.C. and 220 A.D. in China during the Han Dynasty by Ts'ai Lun. After the invention of paper, a lot of things happened. During the Tang Dynasty (618-907), paper was folded into square bags to preserve the flavor of tea. The subsequent Song Dynasty (960 -1279) was the first government to issue paper money. At that moment, paper was swiftly applied for diverse usages, which made people's lives easier. Shouldn't we praise ancient Chinese wisdom?

What's more, may I bring your attention to how such a tiny and light thing has influenced our world? Papermaking facilitated a flourishing in literary creativity and written culture, which included works on geography, astronomy, medicine, and mathematics. The aforementioned examples well illustrated how paper led to a rise in popular literature being inexpensively copied and more accessible to the general public. More significantly, paper played an indispensable role in knowledge dissemination at that time. It also led to the creation of newspapers, periodicals, magazines, and books to share knowledge. Meanwhile, it was beneficial to allow more communication among people through letters.

Wow, that was a lot to say. Isn’t it fascinating that a sheet of paper could impact the world so much? I wonder what China will invent in the future?

Well, let’s wait to find out!

China’s Impressive Paperwork (HKYWA 2024)