Bark, Fibre and Patience in Dongba Paper

A 2025 Lijiang Daily excerpt by Wang Lan, an associate research librarian at the Capital Library, describes two Daphne plants used for paper and follows the craft at a Lijiang workshop. The account starts with bark and fibre, then traces the material toward a finished sheet.

The process described in the excerpt includes stripping and drying bark, soaking and cooking it, beating the fibres, forming a sheet and drying it. Repetition matters: the maker sorts out impurities through several stages, then lifts pulp on a framed screen so that it forms a thin layer. The material passes through a sequence of hand movements before it becomes a surface that can carry writing or painting.

The excerpt’s most useful detail is the transition from loose fibre to a sheet. Pulp is drawn up in a frame with a screen; the maker raises it slowly so the fibres settle into a layer. The wet sheet is pressed to release excess water, then the backing is removed and the sheet is left to dry. Those steps make the paper’s texture a record of process: thickness and visible fibre are not simply decorative effects.

The account identifies Dongba paper as a material used for manuscripts and notes that written and painted sheets could serve different purposes. Contemporary paper products also include notebooks, bookmarks and other objects.

Wang’s excerpt names papermaker He Xiuchang and attributes workshop explanations to him. It describes knowledge transmitted through his family and says visitors could observe parts of the process at the time of her visit.