Traditional Hand Papermaking in China Today

• Event Date: Tuesday, February 22, 2005
• Time: 7:30 pm (CST)
• Location: Spurlock Museum, 600 S. Gregory St., Urbana, IL
• Cost: Free Admission

• Talk

Lecture by Dr. Nancy Norton Tomasko
editor, East Asian Library Journal Princeton University

By most accounts, Chinese papers have been around for just about as long as world civilizations have been aware of paper. And handmade paper was the fundamental material for most books produced in China from the third to the twentieth centuries. Clearly, that handmade paper is one of the most significant repositories of records of Chinese culture. My talk introduces the production today of handmade papers in four areas in China and shows images of the physical setting, equipment and tools, methods for plant-fiber preparation, techniques for sheet formation and drying, and the processing and packaging of finished paper. The talkwill be accompanied by a small display of paper samples, traditional Chinese books, and related objects.

This event is held in conjunction with the Focus Gallery exhibit Following the Paper Trail from China to the World, co-sponsored by the Spurlock Museum, the UI Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, and a gift in memoriam of Dr. Yuen Tze Lo by his wife Sarah de Mundo Lo. The exhibit is part of the University of Illinois' Year of Asia celebration.