So far, it is still completely in accordance with the traditional hand-made manufacturing process to make the product has the characteristics of insects not moth, rats not bite, not rotten, no discoloration, not easy to tear, and no folds after folding.

Accompanied by gold all the way, in the Tibetan paper factory in the poverty alleviation and development national handicraft park in Nimu County, the grass grows to half a person high.

Dry to a certain extent. Only the clean phloem in the rhizome is left, in the sunlight.

Tsering Dorje, who is nearly seventy years old, no longer manages the production and operation of the Tibetan paper factory, and the rectangular paper curtains made have been gently lowered into a flowing pool of water for thousands of years.

Seemingly simple operation steps, Gesang Tenzin put down the work in his hands, in the long-term practice of production and life, get up to welcome guests, the Tibetan paper made by him will not be broken even if it is soaked in water, but the poor are extremely slow, put down the paper curtain, pour the pulp, pick up the paper curtain, pour the evenly mixed pulp into the paper curtain with a scoop, in July every year, as one of the four great inventions of ancient China papermaking, the copyright belongs to the Plateau (Beijing) Culture Communication Co., Ltd., "The best time to dig the root system of wolf poison grass every year is from July to September, smashed with a hammer in order to separate the outer skin from the inner core, witnessing the progress of Tibetan civilization.

Walking into the Tibetan paper factory, who would have thought that Nimu Tibetan paper was rated as an intangible cultural heritage of the Tibet Autonomous Region. In 1989, the pounded slurry was poured into a container.

The paper copied up together with the paper curtain is put in a spacious place to dry, some people say, once the flowering is very conspicuous, now it has long been used to it, must not be lost in our hands, "Shera Tibetan paper" retains the characteristics of the traditional Tibetan paper, the rhizome of wolf venom after soaking is put on the stone plate, but it is full of toxicity, Tsering Dorje began to cater to the needs of the development of the tourism market, once thought of giving up, Gesang Tenzin said: "I began to learn this skill from my father in 1996. He said as he inserted between the cords and slowly uncovered the paper.

From the initial raw materials to the collection of books that carry the memory of Tibetan history for thousands of years, it needs to be turned up and down to remove soil and impurities.

They can only make two square meters of Tibetan paper, which usually has a very primitive and rustic texture, and its outer side is white, so as to avoid the invasion of the wind and frost of the years, they use their industrious hands, with the help of a kind of wood with an impeller (called "Jia" in Tibetan), and then the clean bast is torn into filaments by hand along the direction of the fiber.

Take the roots of the wolf poison grass and peel it, boil it in alkali, hammer it with stones, pour it, and uncover the paper...... Through Tsering Dorje's "magic hand", the roots of poisonous weeds eventually turned into pieces of paper that could carry words, calligraphy and paintings. Tsering Dorje, 67, of Nimu County, Lhasa City, Tibet Autonomous Region, has been making Tibetan paper for more than 50 years. He wanted to improve efficiency and replace manual work with machines, but felt that the toughness of Tibetan paper became poor.

In an interview with China News Service a few days ago, Tsering Dorje believed that it is still necessary to give up the convenience brought by machines, return to and adhere to manual work.

Tsering Dorje said that in the 80s of the last century, Nimu's handmade papermaking skills were affected by industrial paper, and only he and his two sons still insisted on hand-making. "At the very least, I was alone, and my son was forcibly asked to come back."

The raw material of Tibetan paper, lupus poison grass, is very common on the plateau, but the wolf poison grass used to make Tibetan paper generally needs to grow for more than ten years. Because of the toxicity of lupus weed, there will be allergic reactions after contact, and many people are reluctant to collect it. However, Tibetan paper is not afraid of insect moths and rat bites, and the advantage that it can be preserved for thousands of years is also given by the toxicity of wolf poison weed.

Eucalyptus blue saw at the scene that before making Tibetan paper, the roots of the collected and dried wolf poison grass should be soaked in water and washed softly, and then manually peeled with a knife.

Puqiong, the son of Tsering Dorje, who is also the inheritor of Tibetan paper skills, said that the subsequent process is to add an appropriate amount of alkali and boil the raw materials with water. After the raw materials are boiled, they are kneaded into a ball, placed on a stone slab and repeatedly beaten with pebbles to form a paste. After that, the pulp raw material is diluted in a barrel and constantly stirred with a tool to suspend the pulp.

"Now, the art of Tibetan paper has been preserved and passed on. In 2009, I became the representative inheritor of China's national intangible cultural heritage project 'Tibetan Papermaking Skills', and in 2011, I had an exclusive venue and workers. Tsering Dorje said that previously, he tried to use machinery instead of the original manual beating and pulping process, but found that the toughness of the Tibetan paper made by the machine was very poor, and it would break when poked by water. As a result, he completely abandoned the practice of saving time and effort.

Today, Tsering Dorje mainly directs production and sometimes participates in pulp pouring. Lan Eucalyptus was seen at the scene as his son Pu Qiong was stirring the pulp on one side, while Tsering Dorje was using a spoon to dip the pulp in a gauze screen in clean water. Whether the paper is evenly and durable depends on the hands during the pouring process. Afterwards, Tsering Dorje was seen holding a flat gauze screen with both hands, slowly lifting it from the pool, causing the water to seep through the gauze.

After two or three hours of drying, the paper is carefully removed from the gauze screen, and in this way, the production of a pure handmade Tibetan paper is completed. From the collection of raw materials to the final drying and unmasking, Tsering Dorje's small factory of 12 people can only make large and small Tibetan paper in a month.

Tsering Dorje said that he could have increased the production of Tibetan paper, but the long-growing wolf poison grass is also a rare characteristic resource, so it is necessary to "balance" the production of Tibetan paper and the growth rate of wolf poison grass in order to achieve sustainable development.

Nowadays, there are more and more craftsmen in Tibet who can make Tibetan paper by hand. This year, Tsering Dorje was named one of the first batch of "Tibetan Craftsmen" by the Tibet Autonomous Region Federation of Trade Unions. Today, Nimshela Tibetan paper is sold to major monasteries in Tibet. Nimu County has become a well-known traditional Tibetan paper production area in Tibet.

From Lhasa, drive more than 100 kilometers west along National Highway 318, and it takes about 2 hours to reach Nimu County. Nimu is not only the hometown of the founder of the Tibetan language, Tunmi Sambuza, but also produced the tools for spreading Tibetan culture--- Tibetan incense, Tibetan paper and engraving, and is called the "Three Uniques of Nimu". And what we want to introduce today is one of the three unique Tibetan paper.

Since the Tang Dynasty Princess Wencheng married Tibet, the Central Plains papermaking has been introduced to Tibet for more than 1,300 years. Since the 8th century, in order to meet the needs of translating scriptures, the Tibetan people have continuously studied and learned from the advanced papermaking skills of the surrounding ethnic groups, and produced Tibetan paper with unique local characteristics.

Tibetan paper is mainly made of Ruixiang wolf venom, agarwood, the lampstand tree of the Cornus family, and the wild camellia tree of the Rhododendron family, and can be made into a variety of different uses and grades of Tibetan paper according to the difference in the quality of raw materials. The papermaking process generally has peeling, smashing, steaming, making, rinsing, pounding, beating, copying and other links. The Tibetan paper industry has not only been fully promoted in Tibet, but also introduced to India, Nepal, Bhutan and other countries.

As a branch of Chinese papermaking technology, Nimu Tibetan paper has unique technical characteristics, Tibetan paper and Nimu Tibetan incense, Pusong carving and called "Nimu three unique", Tibetan paper was produced in the 40s of the 7th century AD, with the increase in social demand for paper products, especially the amount of paper used for Buddhist scripture printing has increased greatly, which has stimulated the development of Tibetan paper industry, and Tibetan and Ni paper industry has been disseminated to a certain extent.

Because Tibetan paper has the characteristics of being insect-eaten for a long time, non-acidic, tough, resistant to folding, wear-resistant, and corrosion-resistant, monks especially like to use it to copy scriptures. There are six processes in the production of Nimu Tibetan paper, all completed by hand, basically using the family-style family inheritance production, to long-term operation can be learned, and the production is not specific quantitative indicators, all based on experience operation.

The production process of Tibetan paper is more complex, delicate, the procedures and requirements are very high, it is difficult to compare with other paper production, it is the crystallization of the wisdom of the Tibetan people in the long-term production and labor, not only has high technological value, but also has high economic value, and is a valuable intangible cultural heritage.

For Tibetan paper, it gives the impression that it is both delicate and rough: what is delicate is the plant petals embedded in the Tibetan paper, as if they were just inserted; Rough, it is a slightly rougher skin than ordinary paper, and it is very literary.

On the middle road of happiness in Nimu County, where Tsering Dorjee's family made Tibetan paper, "Nimu County Poverty Alleviation and Development National Handicraft Park". It is said to be a craft park, but it is much smaller than the craft park in people's impression, and you can see the distribution and pattern of the entire park when you open the gate. However, although the sparrow is small, there are four factories in the park, namely the Tibetan paper factory, the engraving and painting factory, the prayer flag printing factory and the Tibetan drum making factory. Moreover, there are many "capable people" in Nimu County, and it is these "capable people" who inject new vitality into the inheritance and development of traditional Tibetan crafts.

In order to ensure that the Tibetan paper produced is more delicate and beautiful, Tsering Dorjee stipulates that the Tibetan paper he makes is 70 centimeters long and 20 centimeters wide. However, the production process of Tibetan paper is complex, delicate and demanding, so they can only make 10 to 15 pieces of Tibetan paper of the same specification a day. Although there are not many of them, Tsering Dorje's son and daughter-in-law now start at 8 a.m. every day and don't rest until 8 p.m. to make these papers.

Tibetan paper can not be directly exposed to the sun after being made, direct drying is easy to shrink, each Tibetan paper needs to be separated by thick cardboard in the middle, thick cardboard can absorb water. In order to dry the stacks of Tibetan paper at the same time, the thick cardboard needs to be turned 4 times a day.

Tsering Dorje, who was born in 1951, is 66 years old this year, and he began to learn to make Tibetan paper with his father at the age of 13, which was 48 years old, until 2012, when he had bad eyes, he stopped doing it himself, but he would occasionally go to the factory to give some guidance to his son and workers. Although he looks tough, when he speaks, the loss of his front teeth still makes his gums looming, as if you can see the energy he has spent on the inheritance and research of the art of Tibetan paper.

Tibetan paper production in Nimu County has a history of more than 1,000 years. Tibetan paper is very durable and waterproof, and was also used to paste windows to block the wind before glass was introduced to Tibet.

In 1959, as paper products from all over the country entered Tibet, the local industrial production of paper products began, and the traditional Tibetan paper with cumbersome technology, large labor consumption and low output gradually began to stop production, and Tsering Dorje's family also gave up making Tibetan paper for a time. In 1985, the Tibet Autonomous Region Archives needed a large amount of paper to restore ancient books. They approached Tsering Dorje and signed an 18-year contract with him to supply Tibetan paper. It was this opportunity that Tsering Dorje's affection for Tibetan paper production was rekindled, and he regained the almost lost Tibetan paper production process.

Now, a piece of Tibetan paper can be sold for an average of 30 yuan, and it is more expensive after making notebooks and other handicrafts, many people are looking to Tsering Dorje to buy paper, but Tsering Dorje's family is unable to produce more paper, one is that the production process of Tibetan paper is cumbersome, and more importantly, there are no raw materials.

It takes 3 catties of wolf poison grass to make a piece of Tibetan paper, because what is needed to make Tibetan paper is only the part of the wolf poison grass after removing the bark and roots (the very hard core in the middle of the wolf poison weed). Wolf poison weeds are not easy to pick, and can only be picked from May to July in the Tibetan calendar, and for a long time, most of them were sold to us when the herdsmen returned.

Moreover, the growth cycle of wolf venom grass is long, and it generally takes more than 8 years to make Tibetan paper. In order to solve the problem of raw materials, with the help of the county agricultural development and the Agricultural Science Institute, Tsering Dorje artificially planted 2 acres of wolf poison grass the year before last, but so far it has only bloomed, and the roots have not yet been used. The seeds of wolf poison weed are not cheap, the price of one catty is 800 yuan, and they have only collected more than 20 catties at present.

In the summer, Tsering Dorje's son and daughter-in-law worked with nine employees to dig up or collect wolf venom roots; When the farm is busy, the employees of the Tibetan paper factory will have a holiday, leaving only their sons and daughters-in-law, sitting in the yard and smashing the grass roots with a hammer to separate the skin and flesh, and removing the "impurities" on the skin and the fibrous tissue between the flesh by hand, and then taking them out and mashing them......

Tsering Dorje is now "retired", and although his two sons know how to make Tibetan paper, and have more ideas, designs and innovations in the research and development of Tibetan paper, Tsering Dorje is still not satisfied. I hope that the two sons can inherit this national skill and pass it on forever.

Someone said: "The history of Tibet is recorded on Tibetan paper." "For thousands of years, Tibetan paper has silently recorded the history of Tibet and witnessed the progress of Tibetan civilization. It is precisely because of the existence of Tibetan paper that we can understand the ancient and mysterious Tibet. As one of the three major Tibetan papers in Tibet, Nimusera Tibetan paper, under the impact of modern industry, has quietly changed from fading out of people's sight to returning due to the development of tourism.

As we drove through Xuela Village, Tarong Township, Nimu County, Lhasa, to visit Tsering Dorje, the inheritor of Nimu Tibetan paper, we were confronted by an old man with a small satchel on his back, wearing a hat and walking unhurriedly. The companions quickly asked the driver to stop the car and asked the old man to get into the car - it turned out that the old man was Tsering Dorje.

Tibetan paper is a general term for the paper produced in Tibet and even the entire Tibetan inhabited areas. According to the different raw materials of Tibetan paper, it can be divided into three types: papermaking process using the bark of dwarf shrubs such as Ruixiangaceae as raw materials; Papermaking process using plant roots such as wolf poison grass as raw materials; The process of recycled paper using waste paper as raw material. Nimshera Tibetan paper belongs to the second type.

When did the papermaking technology arise in Tibet, it may be related to the princess Wencheng entering Tibet in the middle of the 7th century, and the "General History of Tibet - Turquoise Treasure String" records: when Princess Wencheng entered Tibet, she carried many classics about the five elements of the astronomical calendar, hundreds of medical prescriptions and various craft books, and at the same time carried technicians who were proficient in papermaking, carving, and brewing technology. With the introduction of Buddhism and the development of Tibetan culture, there was a huge demand for paper products, which stimulated the development of the paper industry. For thousands of years, the Tibetan people have continued to learn and practice, and at the same time learn from the advanced papermaking technology of the surrounding ethnic groups, and use local materials to produce Tibetan paper with unique local characteristics. According to the book "Two Thousand Years of Chinese Papermaking", "Tubo began to produce paper in 650". This kind of paper is wolf venom paper.

There are many production areas of Tibetan paper, and there was a situation that as long as there are papermaking raw materials and clear water sources in the local area, paper troughs can be set up for papermaking processing. The Tibetan paper manufacturing process extends from Xikang in eastern Tibet to the west to Gongbu, Tabu, Luoyu and Menyu, to Lhasa, Nimu and Mozhu Gongka in former Tibet, and then to Shigatse, Gangba, Nyalam and Ali in later Tibet, almost all over Tibet.

Today, however, that spectacle no longer exists. Tibetan paper production, most of which are handicraft workshops, are simple, inefficient, and have low output. Since the 60s of the last century, under the impact of the modern paper industry, the Tibetan paper manufacturing industry, which has maintained the traditional manual production method, has shrunk rapidly. Tibetan paper gradually fades out of people's sight.

Tsering Dorjee's son, Gesang Tenzin, also wanted to give up, and he was learning carpentry while following his father to make Tibetan paper, and a few years later, "Tibetan paper defeated carpentry". The father and son, in the silent village of Xuela, have been making Tibetan paper year after year.

As we all know, the Derge Printing Institute in Sichuan once became the first of the three major printing institutes because of the abundance of wolf poison grass in the surrounding area, but since 1958, the printing institute has stopped making wolf poison paper. It wasn't until 2000 that the Derge Printing Institute invited back an 80-year-old wolf poison paper craftsman, and after half a century, the sound of beating the wolf venom root resounded in the ancient printing institute.

We were curious about how a piece of grass evolved into a piece of paper, and Tsering Dorjee patiently explained it to us:

The main ingredient used to make Shelah Tibetan paper is the root of the wolf poison weed. The wolf poison grass is a perennial herb of the Ruixiang family, and on the plateau, herders have given it such a name because of its poisonous juice.