A Papermaker's Tour of China
November 1 - 19, 2007

Carriage House Paper and The Research Institute of Paper History are very excited to be sponsoring an unusual expedition to China, focusing on traditional hand papermaking and printing in Sichuan and Yunnan Provinces, along with the fascinating cultures of these areas. Both Donna Koretsky and Elaine Koretsky will lead this expedition. Elaine has documented old papermaking in 43 villages in China since 1976, but some areas have already lost their traditional ways. She is excited that her friends in China have nevertheless managed to locate five more remote villages where paper is still made with the old methods, and she is very eager to visit these places. We start in Kunming, capital of Yunnan Province, "city of eternal spring", where we visit the Museum of the Minority Nationalities, the Kunming Botanical Garden, and enjoy the very special Yunnan foods. We travel north along the new Burma Road to Tengchong, an ancient town with historical and cultural significance, located at the foot of the majestic Gaoligong Mountains. Here we explore three different villages where the ancient methods of papermaking and printing have been passed from generation to generation. Next we drive to Dali, where we examine the indigo dyeing methods of the Bai people, and their mulberry and bamboo papermaking in Heqing County, high in the mountains. Further north, in the ancient town of Lijiang, with its impressive architecture and winding cobblestone streets, we meet the Nakhi people. We investigate the Dongba Research Center, located in the beautiful Black Dragon Pool Park, in the shadow of Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. We will see the very unusual Nakhi papermaking and their pictogram writing.

We return to Kunming and fly to Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province. We visit some wonderful parks in the city, including a special exhibit at the shrine to Xue Tao, the first lady papermaker, who lived in the 9th century. In Jia Jiang County we see the making of enormous sheets of calligraphy paper, requiring 2 to 4 workers to form one sheet. Then we travel up into the mountains to visit a group of small villages that use bamboo and the local grasses for their hand papermaking. The scenery here is incredible, with one spectacular vista after another, as we wind our way around the mountains. We also will explore a marvelous bamboo forest that is specially cultivated for papermaking. And remember that Sichuan food is fantastic. The trip ends in Chengdu on November 19.

For complete information about the trip, kindly contact: donna@carriagehousepaper.com