What did China use to write books in ancient times?

In ancient times, this time period was a bit long.

During the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, not many people could not read, let alone write books. At that time, intellectuals were basically wizards. When divining, they wrote Oracle Bone Inscriptions on tortoise shells and ox bones (shoulder blades), which is called Oracle Bone Inscriptions.

Later, it began to be engraved on metal objects, all of which were memorabilia, or why they were given when giving gifts, and kept a lot of historical information. This is an inscription.

During the Spring and Autumn Period, Warring States Period and Qin Dynasty, it was mostly written on bamboo slips and wooden slips. Of course, it was still written on cloth and skins at that time. At that time, these resources were very precious and affordable.

When paper was invented in the Eastern Han Dynasty, people began to write books with paper, but it was still scarce at that time and the scope of use was very narrow. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cai Lun improved the papermaking technology and presented the paper to the court, which was praised by the emperor. From then on, people began to use this kind of paper, and the paper made in Cai Lun was called "Cai Hou Paper" all over the country.

In the 8th century, paper was widely used in China. In the following centuries, China exported paper to all parts of Asia and kept the secret of papermaking strictly. In 75 1 year, there was a conflict between the Tang Dynasty and the Arab Empire, and the Arabs captured several China paper makers. Soon, the paper industry rose in Samarkand and Baghdad. In this way, papermaking gradually spread all over the Arab world, where paper was widely used and then spread to North America and Europe through Arab countries.