Rice Paper: The Eternal Treasure

Rice paper, known more specifically as xuan paper, originated in ancient China. It is known for its soft, thin, and fine texture, used commonly in both Chinese calligraphy and painting.

The bark of "Pteroceltis tatarinowii", a species of elm found in Jing County, Anhui, China, is used as the main material to produce rice paper. The production of Xuan paper can be loosely categorized into an 18-step process. However, more detail shows that the process involves over a hundred. The process includes steaming and bleaching the bark of "Pteroceltis tatarinowii", mixing it with various solutions, and using a special device and method to make each sheet of paper. The beauty of rice paper is that everything is handmade: the bark is handpicked and dried, the rice paper mixture is mixed by hand, the sheets of paper are dried and cut by hand.

Over the years, the rice paper community has slowly declined. The industry is showing a decrease in rice paper sales. Factories find it harder and harder to find determined competent workers, due to the monotonous, physically demanding, low-paying jobs and lack of interest in continuing the rice paper tradition from the younger generation.

Shot on location in one of the famous Red Star Rice Paper brand's factories in Jing County, "Rice Paper: The Eternal Treasure" reveals the issue. It asks why this is happening, and what is being done to prevent the knowledge of rice paper making, a process developed slowly over the course of thousands of years, from disappearing.

The film tells the stories of young and old rice paper factory workers and the reasons why they took the job. Supervisors and managers of the factories put the stories into context and advocate different paths toward change and improvement.