斯德哥尔摩国际邮展的主办方是鼎鼎大名的英国伦敦皇家集邮协会，这是世界上第一个集邮协会。今年正好度过150周年庆典的伦敦皇家集邮协会，把庆典活动放在了瑞典首都斯德哥尔摩。瑞典国王古斯塔夫六世和英国女王伊丽莎白二世还专门为这次庆典活动提供了赞助。庆典上展览的邮集全部来自伦敦皇家集邮协会的全球会员，因此规模空前。

　　马丁·默克在业内同样鼎鼎大名。他是国际著名钢版雕刻师，除了邮票和纸钞雕刻外，还涉猎插画、水彩画和油画创作，为许多国家以及联合国创作过钞邮和纪念艺术作品。此次，他选择开化纸作为邮票的材质。马丁认为只有这样才能展现版刻的最佳效果。而成品证明，开化纸在邮票行业的应用前景非常乐观。

　　“我国虽然发明了造纸，在邮票100多年的使用史上，国外邮票使用中国纸尚属首次。”中西文古籍善本、铜版画收藏家刘扬是推动开化纸参加国际邮展的直接促成者。近年来，他向很多国内外公益大使推荐开化纸，“开化纸能够被做成大师的印样，前去参加国际展览和比赛，与国际名牌纸同台竞技，说明开化纸完全可以作为当代国际邮票体裁作品的载体。一旦推广使用，这种纸会在艺术品市场上散发独特魅力。”

　　蜚声海外的开化纸，在国内也享有极高的声誉。比如，用开化纸印制的徐永才大师的雕版凹印作品《齐白石》，就广受各界好评。

　　许多国家和地区的大师在试用过开化纸之后，都与开化纸研究院进行了深入交流。他们认为，开化纸的白度高，纸张轻薄、通透，开化纸承载的作品线条干净又不失厚重。

　　前世

　　尽管开化纸这几年被大家重新认识，但在此之前，开化纸曾被当作业已失传的传统技艺，即便在浙江省第三批非物质文化遗产名录申报中，都提到开化纸“造纸作坊已经全部停业”“造纸工艺只有一位91岁的老人有些技艺，后继无人”。

　　既然纸质优良，为何“后继无人”了呢？

　　其实，开化纸以产地得名，大溪边、小溪边、封家和青阳一带遗有诸多古纸槽和抄纸工具。开化纸抄造起始于唐，盛于明清。

　　明成化年间，浙江右参政陆容在他的《菽园杂记》中，曾详尽记载了当时衢州常山、开化的造纸术：“衢之常山、开化等县人以造纸为业。其造法采楮皮蒸过，擘去粗质，糁石灰，浸渍三宿，蹂之使熟，去灰。又浸水七日，复蒸之。濯去泥沙。曝晒经旬，舂烂，水漂，入胡桃藤等药。以竹丝簾承之。俟其凝结，掀置白上，以火干之。白者以砖板制为案卓状，圬以石灰而厝火其下也。”这段记载对于今天来了解明代衢州造纸的过程，从原料、配料到制作工艺，都有很高的经济史料价值。据说，当时还记录了洪武至成化年间，内府使用开化纸作为榜纸的情况。

　　到清康乾时期，开化纸在皇宫内府的影响力达到了极致，许多名贵典籍均为开化纸的刻写本。清代顺治、康熙、雍正、乾隆时宫庭刊书以及扬州诗局的书多用这种纸，比如扬州诗局的《全唐诗》，康熙殿版《御纂周易折中》《周易本义》，乾隆四十七年抄成的正本《四库全书》，乾隆刊《冰玉山庄诗集》，以及《芥子园画传》等典籍，均采用了当时闻名遐迩的开化纸。开化纸也有了“贡纸”一说。

　　近代大藏书家周叔弢先生在全面收藏整理清代“开化纸”印本的基础上，认为乾隆朝的开化纸达到古代造纸之顶峰。由于开化纸印出的书籍高雅大方，美观漂亮，所以历来受到藏书家的追捧，价格也极其昂贵。

　　值得一提的是，现保存于国家图书馆地下的文津阁《四库全书》用的也是开化纸。作为中国历史上规模最大的丛书，这部盛世巨帙在修成至今的两百多年间，历经坎坷，最初缮写的7部现仅存3部半。其中，文津阁《四库全书》保存最为完整，且是原架、原函、原书一体存放的唯一一部藏书。

　　58岁的国家图书馆研究馆员赵前与文津阁《四库全书》相守30多年。“刚到馆里时，馆里的老先生就和我说，《四库全书》用的都是可久藏的开化榜纸。”赵前对于这部鸿篇巨制的评价是：“纸寿千年、细腻洁白、帘纹不显、温软柔润……”那些关于开化纸风华绝代的种种传说，在弥漫奇香的《四库全书》书库中都有了现实印证。

　　到清咸丰后，开化成了太平天国在浙江西部的主战场，兵燹（xiǎn）降临导致“纸槽荒圮，工匠流亡”，加之抄纸核心原料逐渐枯竭，到了清末，民间抄纸走向没落，工艺也随之失传。

　　今生

　　2008年8月，开化当地政府部门开始着手申报开化贡纸制作技艺进入第三批省级非遗保护名录，并提出逐步加大投入，让开化纸重新面世。

　　2012年，开化纸传统技艺研究中心主任黄宏建开始研究恢复开化纸工艺，成立了“开化纸工艺恢复研究会”，搜集整理其工艺和配方资料，落实场地规划，对开化纸进行深入挖掘研究和传统技艺恢复，取得一定的进展和成果。

　　近年来，在复旦大学中华古籍保护研究院、国家古籍保护中心、国家图书馆的大力支持下，开化纸传统技艺研究取得了突破性进展，纸样也得到了国内外业界的高度认可。“可以这么说，我们已成功恢复了中华民族最好纸张之一的开化纸制作工艺，开化纸在寿命上至少可达2800多年。”2017年底，在开化纸制作工艺及开化纸本文献国际学术研讨会上，中科院院士、复旦大学中华古籍保护研究院院长杨玉良宣布说。

　　“一般印书用的轻型纸保存年限在20多年，而我们恢复的开化纸寿命长达2800多年，这不得不令人惊叹。”开化县作家协会主席、长篇小说《国楮》作者孙红旗说。黄宏健告诉大家：“接下来，主要进入试用阶段，通过有关古籍单位的修复、印制实践，来确定产品质量，让‘开化纸’更好地复兴。”

　　Kaihua Paper-making Reborn

The sensational release of postage stamp Sailboat, designed by world-renowned stamp engraver, illustrator and artist Martin Morck, at the International Philatelic Exhibition in Stockholm from May 29 to June 2, not only brought the “Belt-and-Road” element into the exhibition but marked the significant debut of “Made in China” Kaihua paper on such a prestigious philatelic stage. More importantly, the paper on which the stamp is printed also brought a dying paper-making craft from a small, ancient county in western Zhejiang Province into the global spotlight.

Sponsored by the Royal Philatelic Society London, the world’s first one of its kind, the Stockholm event of this year was specially designed to celebrate the organization’s 150th birthday, and received enthusiastic backing from the King of Sweden and Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, drawing an unprecedented turnout from the organization’s global members.

Inspired by nature, Morck is never tired of engraving, painting and illustrating. The Denmark-based Norwegian stamp-engraving master has left his mark in memorial works made for the United Nations, and has engraved two series of stamps for China since 2010, including a set of portraits on European musicians. His work has created a lot of buzz among China’s stamp collectors. This time, he chose Kaihua paper for his creation in order to bring about the best of the art of stamp-engraving; and the result is a beautiful masterpiece that shows the vast possibilities of the use of this unique paper-making craftsmanship in such a demanding, highly-specialized field.

“Before this, China-made paper had never been used for stamp-making in foreign countries in the hundred-year-long history of postage stamps,” reveals Liu Yang, a Chinese collector specialized in copperplate etching. Liu is also the pusher behind the marriage of Kaihua paper and the Stockholm exhibition. Over the past few years, Liu has spared no effort to recommend Kaihua paper to public welfare ambassadors for possible use in and outside China.

In China, Kaihua paper enjoys a fine reputation, and adds lust to Qi Baishi, a masterpiece named after the art master (1864-1957) by master engraver Xu Yongcai. The special texture and superb quality of the paper has garnered the attention of many artists across the globe for its purity, thinness and an ideal level of transparency. It is widely regarded as a fine material that endows the art work it carries with supreme cleanness and stately, enduring beauty.

Expertise in making Kaihua paper is disappearing, although recent years have seen the significance of this hidden gem being reevaluated. In Kaihua County, a 91-year-old man is the only one who can claim to have the complete know-how. And there is almost nowhere to learn the art.

Dating back to the Tang Dynasty (618-907) of China, the craftsmanship peaked during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties of China. The paper-making process practiced by paper-makers in Changshan and Kaihua during the Chenghua years of the Ming Dynasty was recorded in great detail in a book written by Lu Rong, then a government affairs chief. The book also reveals that for a long time the paper made by artisans in Kaihua and Changshan was used to make imperial edicts.

The reputation of Kaihua paper peaked in the years Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong of Qing Dynasty, with the paper used for rare books, such as Collected Tang Poems published by Yangzhou Poetry Publishing House, which was run by the imperial court.

Zhou Shutao (1891-1984), former vice mayor of Tianjin and book collector, concluded from his long-time research, that Kaihua paper reached its golden age during the reign of Emperor Qianlong of the Qing, when the paper was so sought-after by bibliophiles that it became prohibitively expensive.

Now part of the collection of the National Library, the Wen Jin Ge edition of “Si Ku Quan Shu”, or “Complete Library in the Four Branches of Literature,” completed in 1782, has the world’s longest series of books. The work, comprising four traditional divisions of Chinese learning -- classics, history, philosophy, and belles-letters -- contains 3,503 titles bound into more than 36,000 books with a total of 853,456 pages. The fine quality of Kaihua paper is beautifully illustrated by the copies in almost perfect condition after 200 years of vicissitudes. 

The craft faded in the warring flames around the Xianfeng years of the Qing Dynasty. Luckily, the local government today is taking serious action to secure the future of this specialized area and restore its glory. Recent years have witnessed substantial progresses achieved through the joint effort from various academic and governmental organizations and far-sighted individuals.

“The storage life of the paper using the restored skills can theoretically reach 2,800 years, whilst the average storage life of light-weight paper used for making books is good only around 20 years,” declares Yang Yuliang, President of the Chinese Ancient Books Research Institute of Fudan University.