Cai Lun’s Key
How the Kam People of China Preserved the Earliest Papermaking
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In the mountains of southwest China, Kam women preserve a way of making paper that researchers connect to some of the earliest known techniques.
Women artisans in Dimen Village make paper from mulberry bark using floating moulds. Their knowledge has been passed from one generation to the next through practice and oral teaching.
Marie Anna Lee and students from the University of the Pacific learn alongside the artisans: gathering and preparing bark, working the pulp, forming paper sheets, and exploring the ceremonial and practical objects made from the finished paper.
The documentary follows this exchange of knowledge and asks what it takes to preserve a highly specialized tradition as village life changes. The film also explores the connection between Kam papermaking and techniques associated with Cai Lun in the second century CE.
“Women in remote Dimen Village reveal a two-thousand-year-old unwritten papermaking tradition.”
Paper made by hand, knowledge passed by hand
Mulberry bark is harvested, prepared, and beaten to make pulp. The liquid pulp is poured over floating frames and left to dry. The finished paper is used for storing and protecting textiles and for ceremonial objects.
The film records not only a sequence of techniques but the knowledge, skill, and relationships that make their transmission possible.
Scenes from the film and field research
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Dimen, a Kam village
Dimen is located in the mountains of Guizhou Province, southwestern China. The documentary is part of a long-term project documenting cultural knowledge and artisan practice through collaborative learning with the community.
Marie Anna Lee
Marie Anna Lee is an artist, designer, filmmaker, and professor at the University of the Pacific. Her research with Kam artisans in Dimen began in 2007 and combines community-based design with documentation and cultural preservation.
Director: Marie Anna Lee
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Contact
For questions about the film, screenings, educational use, or the Kam Heritage Project, please contact filmmaker Marie Anna Lee.