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Han Dynasty Essay

Decent Essays

The Han Dynasty, the second imperial dynasty of Ancient China, was prosperous and innovative. The scientific development was extremely advanced for the time, and inventions such as the seismometer, sundial, and wheelbarrow greatly improved Ancient Chinese life (Cartwright “Achievements”, 2017). However, perhaps the most important invention of the Han Dynasty was paper. Paper affected countless areas of Ancient Chinese life by transforming the way information and art were recorded, consumed, and stored.

While the origins of paper are unknown, its predecessors were flawed and in need of a replacement. The invention of paper is attributed to Cai Lun, a Han government worker, who created the first “true” paper in AD 105 (Greenling 2017, 51). However, …show more content…

Former Encyclopædia Britannica editor Kenneth Pletcher described the record keeping of the Han administration, “Han administration required detailed record keeping, which generated a proliferation of documents. Official returns were sometimes kept in duplicate, and each agency kept running files to record its business” (Pletcher 2010, 79). Bulky bamboo or expensive silk were impractical for this kind of meticulous record keeping, but official documents were recorded and stored easily because of the invention of paper. The Han government had also taken an interest in “literary accomplishment” and “scholastic competence” for the Ancient Chinese people, likely as a result of the invention of paper (Pletcher 2010, 79). Alexander Monro wrote about how the books of Han Dynasty “became the guiding stars of Chinese education, governance, and philosophy” (Monro 2016, 44). The four classic texts, the Shijing, the Shujing, the Yijing, and the Chunqiu, were of such extreme importance to the Han government that in order to make an argument before the throne, a “statesman would [have to] find a relevant quotation from these works” (Pletcher 2010, 79). The four texts were also probably carved into stone and copied by using the stone rubbing method as mentioned before, giving the general public access to

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