Processing begins in the usual way that I have seen throughout Asia. Young bamboo is gathered in the forest, cut into 18-inch lengths and soaked in water for 24 hours. Then it is soaked in water and caustic lime for another 24 hours and cooked in boiling water for seven days. Afterwards it is placed in a pit of clean water and washed to remove the lime and other noncellulosic substances. The next step is an amazing one that I have never witnessed before. The bamboo is put into a pit containing five parts water and one part human urine. The papermakers declared that this step softened the fiber. The rest of the process is typical of numerous papermaking villages – beating by means of a revolving stone roll; no additives except a yellow or red dye depending on the use of the paper; sheet formation with a bamboo screen on a wood frame with hinged deckle sticks on each side of the mould; pressing with a hydraulic jack; and air drying on poles hanging from the ceilings of the papermakers' houses. I learned another extraordinary fact about this village over lunch. We sat on a patio at the papermaker's house and were joined by other villagers. One man, Mr. Cai Zhong Gao, casually mentioned that he was a descendant of Cai Lun, the reputed inventor of paper! We were totally flabbergasted. Cai Zhong Gao related that his family had immigrated here to Fuyang County from Fujian Province during the Tang Dynasty. He reported that all of this, including his own family history, is recorded in official documents. Indeed, most of the other inhabitants of this village also are descendants of Cai Lun and bore the surname Cai, which gave the village its name. Later, I asked my translator how Cai Lun could have been the ancestor of all these people since he is always described as a eunuch. I learned that it is the Chinese custom that if a man has no children of his own, he can adopt a nephew or another family member, and that this person would forever be considered a true son, in the same way as a natural child. The paper of Cai Jia Wu is used primarily for burning at religious ceremonies or in the celebration of weddings. For happy events, the red-dyed paper is appropriate. For solemn occasions, this yellow-dyed paper is used, as it simulates gold.