宣纸制作技艺：一张纸要走过 108 道工序

▍一、起源地：为什么是泾县

宣纸的原料只有两样主料：青檀树皮与沙田稻草。青檀皮取自乌溪村及周边青檀树三年左右枝条的韧皮组织，纤维长；当地沙田稻草纤维短，草质柔软、灰分含量低，容易漂白。长纤维与短纤维按配比结合，才有了宣纸那种既柔且韧的质地。

除了原料，还有水。捞纸用的是当地呈弱碱性的山泉水。原料、水系与气候三者凑在一起，别处很难照搬。

山脚下的浅溪旁堆着成捆的青檀枝条，远处是低矮的丘陵

▍二、历史背景：一千二百余年

宣纸始于唐代，至今已有一千二百余年历史，享有"纸寿千年"的美誉。所谓"纸寿千年"，说的是它耐老化、不变色、少虫蛀，古籍珍本与名书名画能保存到今天，纸本身功不可没。

▍三、工艺特色：水深火热

一张宣纸要历经蒸煮、漂白、打浆、捞纸、晒纸、剪纸等 108 道工序，从原料到成纸历时约三年（据央视新闻、新华社报道）。其中大部分工艺至今无法用机器替代。

其中两个环节被业内称为"水深火热"。"水深"指捞纸，是成纸的头一道，也是决定质量最关键的一道工序，捞纸师傅仅凭手上的动作控制每张纸的重量，能做到每刀 100 张的重量误差不超过 100 克。"火热"指晒纸，湿纸经过板榨压去水分后，要在焙墙上烘干。

纸槽边的一副竹帘与一摞刚捞出的湿纸，水面泛着细密的浆沫

▍四、文化价值：墨分五色

宣纸成品质地绵韧、纹理细密、洁白匀净，触手温润而不滑腻。它最被看重的是润墨表现：一笔下去，浓淡层次能分开，业内称为"墨分五色"。这也是书画挥毫、碑帖摹拓、水印复刻多选用它的原因。

宣纸分生宣与熟宣。生宣未经加工，吸水与沁水性强，墨晕变化丰富，多用于写意；熟宣纸质较硬、吸水力弱，遇墨不散，常用于小楷与工笔。

▍五、传承现状：人是最难的一环

这门技艺至今保持着完整的手工链条。泾县至今沿用着纯手工的制作工艺，从原料到成纸的多数环节无法被机器替代（据新华社 2025-03-31 报道）。据新华社报道，中国宣纸股份有限公司的捞纸师傅周东红自 1985 年开始学习捞纸，在浆池边站了四十年，经手捞出的宣纸超过一千万张。

难处也在人。愿意学习宣纸制作技艺的年轻人越来越少，是公开报道中反复提到的问题（据中国乡村振兴网相关报道）。工序长、上手慢、前几年收入不高，这些条件摆在一起，选择这门手艺的年轻人自然就少了。

▍问答

问 ｜ 宣纸为什么能保存上千年，和普通纸有什么区别

答 ｜ 差别在原料与工艺。宣纸用青檀皮与沙田稻草，纤维长且纯净，经灰腌、碱蒸等处理去除了大部分易变质的杂质，成纸后呈中性偏碱，不易酸化变脆。普通机制纸多以木浆为主，残留的木质素与酸性物质会让纸随时间发黄变脆。这就是"纸寿千年"的来历。

问 ｜ 生宣和熟宣怎么选，初学用哪种

答 ｜ 看你要的效果。生宣吸水沁水强，墨色层次丰富，适合写意与行草，但落笔后难以修改，对控笔要求高。熟宣不洇墨，适合小楷与工笔，容错率高。初学者若练习控笔，可先用偏熟的纸建立信心；若追求墨韵，再转生宣。两种纸没有优劣，只有合不合适。

问 ｜ 宣纸这类文房非遗，韵和鸣的品类里有没有

答 ｜ 韵和鸣的品类覆盖漆、竹、绣、银、锦、瓷等多个非遗门类，以平遥推光漆器髹饰技艺起家，标准只有一条：必须是真正的非遗手工品、只与传承人本人合作、核心工序守得住手工完成。具体某一项技艺是否在列，以当下器物为准，可在公众号后台或线下会客厅询问，我们会如实介绍来历与做法。

▍说在最后

一张薄纸背后，是三年的等待和一百零八道不能省的手。这样的东西，值得被慢慢用。

你家乡还有哪些"每天都见、却没人说得出来历"的手艺？留言告诉我们。

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English

Xuan paper has only two principal materials: the bark of the blue sandalwood tree and sand-field rice straw. The bark comes from the bast of branches about three years old on trees around Wuxi village and nearby, and is long-fibred; local sand-field straw is short-fibred, soft and low in ash, bleaching easily. It is the combination of long and short fibre in proportion that gives Xuan paper its texture, at once supple and strong.

Beyond materials there is water. Sheets are formed with local spring water that is mildly alkaline. Materials, water and climate came together here, and the combination is hard to reproduce elsewhere.

Bundles of blue sandalwood branches stacked beside a shallow stream at the foot of low hills

Historical Background: More Than Twelve Centuries

Xuan paper dates from the Tang dynasty and has a history of more than twelve centuries, carrying the reputation of lasting a thousand years. That phrase refers to its resistance to ageing, its stability of colour and its freedom from bookworm, qualities to which the survival of rare books and famous paintings owes no small debt.

A single sheet passes through 108 steps including steaming, bleaching, beating, forming, drying and trimming, with roughly three years between raw material and finished paper (CCTV News; Xinhua). Most of those steps still cannot be replaced by machines.

Two of the stages are known in the trade as water and fire. Water refers to forming, the first step in making the sheet and the most decisive for quality: the worker controls each sheet's weight by hand alone, keeping the weight of a hundred-sheet batch within 100 grams. Fire refers to drying, where the pressed wet sheets are dried against a heated wall.

A bamboo screen beside a vat and a stack of freshly formed damp sheets, fine pulp foam on the water

The finished paper is supple and tough, fine in texture, clean and even, warm to the hand without being slippery. What it is most prized for is how it takes ink: a single stroke separates into graded tones, known in the trade as five tones of ink. That is why it became the preferred support for calligraphy and painting, for rubbing steles, and for watermark reproduction.

Xuan paper comes unsized and sized. Unsized paper is untreated, absorbing and wicking strongly with rich ink diffusion, and is mostly used for freehand work. Sized paper is firmer, absorbs less and holds ink without spreading, so it suits small regular script and fine-line painting.

Transmission Today: People Are the Hardest Part

The recovery and continuation of the skill follows a clear timeline. In Jingxian, purely hand-made methods are still in use today (Xinhua, 31 March 2025). According to Xinhua, Zhou Donghong of China Xuan Paper Co. began learning to form sheets in 1985 and has stood at the vat for forty years, having formed more than ten million sheets.

The difficulty, too, is people. That fewer young people are willing to learn Xuan paper making is a point repeatedly raised in public reporting (China Rural Revitalization Network). Long processes, slow progress and modest earnings in the first years combine, and fewer young people choose the craft as a result.

Why can Xuan paper last a thousand years, and how does it differ from ordinary paper?

The difference lies in material and process. Xuan paper uses blue sandalwood bark and sand-field straw, long and clean in fibre, treated by ash-curing and alkaline steaming to remove most impurities that degrade, leaving a sheet that is neutral to slightly alkaline and slow to acidify or embrittle. Ordinary machine paper is mostly wood pulp, whose residual lignin and acidity yellow and weaken it over time. That is where the phrase lasting a thousand years comes from.

How do you choose between unsized and sized Xuan paper, and which suits a beginner?

It depends on the effect you want. Unsized paper absorbs and wicks strongly, giving rich tonal layering, suiting freehand and running script, but it cannot be corrected once the brush lands and demands control. Sized paper does not bleed, suits small regular script and fine-line work, and is forgiving. Beginners practising brush control may start with paper on the sized side to build confidence, then move to unsized when seeking ink resonance. Neither is better; each suits different work.

Does YUNHEMING's range cover heritage items like Xuan paper?

YUNHEMING's range covers lacquer, bamboo, embroidery, silver, silk and porcelain among other heritage categories, beginning with Pingyao polished lacquerware, and applies one standard only: the piece must be a genuine handmade heritage work, made with the bearer in person, with core processes completed by hand. Whether a particular craft is currently represented depends on what is available; ask via the account or at the Salon and we will account for origin and method honestly.

Behind one thin sheet lie three years of waiting and a hundred and eight steps that cannot be skipped. Something made like that deserves to be used slowly.

What crafts in your hometown are seen every day yet have no one to explain where they came from? Tell us below.

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