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Travelogue – Travelling the Himalayas
Travelogue
Travelling the Himalayas
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Stripping bark Nyemo, Tibet, China
The revival of traditional paper making along the Himalayas
As an interlude in our trip along the Himalayas, this article describes my delight at finding the revival of this ancient craft. I came across it accidentally when visiting an orphanage in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet. There was a gift shop with some delightful handmade paper products and when I asked where these were made I was astonished to find that the founder of the orphanage, Jampa Tsundhup, had made it his personal mission to revive traditional Tibetan papermaking. This skill had been largely lost in the 1950s when the government and monasteries transferred to industrially produced paper (this was also the case in Bhutan, Nepal and India). He scoured the country and found the few remaining experts who could still remember the complex process of making handmade paper. He then used them to train students from the orphanage in the revival of the skills. I helped him with the English translation of a book which describes this revival and the processes involved, including samples of the paper.
This stimulated me to visit other sites in Tibet and also in Nepal where the craft was being revived. Friends who live in Sikkim (India) and Bhutan have provided me with details of the revival there and I am happy to say that there is now a flourishing industry in all these countries.
The traditional date for the arrival of paper making in Tibet is the seventh century, which is much later than its first use in China (2nd century CE), being introduced by a Chinese queen of the Tibetan emperor. Possibly there was small scale production earlier diffusing from China along the silk road to the North West or from Yunnan in the South East. This later arrival may coincide with the development of a written language, the development of a large empire requiring effective communication systems and the need to copy translated versions of Buddhist scriptures arriving from India.
The plants used are from the Thymelaeaceae family. On the Tibetan plateau this is Stellera (which only grows above 2,600 metres) from which the root bast fibres are extracted. However, unless several sheets are glued together
Tibetan with Stellera Root
this is not strong enough. Therefore, it is often combined with fibres from Daphne sp which grows on the lower Southern slopes of the Himalayas in Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan. As well as Daphne Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan also use material from Edgeworthia and Wikoesroemia species. In the case of these woody shrubs the bast fibres are collected from the stems. In the past there was a significant trade in these fibres to Tibet, as well as finished paper and paper products. Possibly the best plant for paper making is Kyemshing (paper Kyemshog), which was used for Tibetan currency until the 1950s, is one that only grows in very small quantities in a particular microclimate in Tibet near to the Indian border in the far East. This maybe Wikoestemia lungtzensis, although Kew Botanical Gardens haven’t yet given me a definitive identification.
These fibres are similar to those used in China – hemp, bamboo, mulberry, rattan, ramie (Chinese grass), rice and wheat straw (I have visited mulberry paper making in Khotan on the southern silk road) but have a unique characteristic in that they are poisonous to insects and, it is said, to mice. For this reason, ancient Tibetan documents are in much better condition than many mediaeval European documents that have worm holes, etc.
The best quality paper is highly praised by calligraphers and artists and is now being used for conservation.
The process is similar at different sites, but the details vary. Each manufacturer says he has a unique approach to produce the finest paper, particularly the additives used at the boiling stage. The key stages are: • Collect plant; • Abstract the fibres; • Pound with a pestle and mortar; • Boil, often with alkali additives. This stage maybe repeated; • Clean and pound • Add pulp to the frame in water using the floating method • Dry the paper on the frame • Remove the dried sheet • Burnish (possibly glue sheets together) using Zi stone, conch shell, etc.
Cleaning Kyemshog Pounding Paper Pulp, Nepal
The revival has taken different forms in the countries along the Himalayas, but there are some common features. There is a link to intangible cultural heritage – a UN accepted category which is not related to buildings or art artefacts (Mongolian throat singing is another example). This encourages pride in ethnic identity through native crafts which were almost lost. In Nepal, Sikkim and Bhutan it is linked to assisting impoverished areas of the country and the particularly the female population in remote villages. In China there was governmental support to purchase equipment and pay for the labour but not much commercial advice. This contrasts strongly with Bhutan which decided to focus on the commercial aspects using Japanese advisors. In Nepal and Sikkim support has mainly been from NGOs but with large commercial retail operations in the Nepalese capital.
There is a wonderful document in the Cambridge University Library printed by Nigel MacFarlane in 1986 on Nepalese homemade paper describing paper making in the Himalayas. Gladly, his prediction that this craft would soon die out has proved wrong, and even in our digital neo liberal global economy the best hand-made paper is highly prized. There is even a Tibetan paper making workshop in Washington State USA. Bruce Huett
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