Jīngxiàn

Jingxian, or Jing County in southern Anhui, became renowned for the paper used by painters and calligraphers. Its Xiaoling workshops were closely associated with the Cao family. A genealogy revised during the Qianlong reign recalled Cao Dasan’s migration here amid the wars at the end of the Song: with little cultivable land, his descendants made paper for their livelihood. This is a family account of the craft’s transmission, rather than a precise date for its invention.

Production developed strongly under the Ming. Writers such as Wen Zhenheng praised Jing County paper, while the early Qing saw workshops prosper at Xiaoling and Caoxi. Paper-pounding mills worked along streams, and growing numbers of workshop households spread into neighbouring valleys. The reputation of a refined artistic material rested on this rural world of family skills, water-powered work and specialised production.