Before it, words lived on heavy bamboo or costly silk. One court official’s recipe made knowledge light, cheap, and unstoppable.
Every book you have ever held, every banknote, every examination paper, descends from a single presentation at the Han imperial court around the year 105: an official showing his emperor how to turn bark, rags, and worn-out fishing nets into something the world had never seen — writing sheets that were light, cheap, and nearly free.
