Yesterday we went to the countryside with Wang Dan and her friends Er Zhen and Bu Ping. Ze Ya is Er Zhen's hometown in Wenzhou county, about an hour and a half from here. It's 'famous' for making the paper burnt in temples for goodluck.

We had a good look around the paper mills and saw the process from soaking the bamboo in lime for 3-4 months, smashing the softened bamboo with an ancient style hydraulic ram (using the river water for fluid), then pulping it, straining it and layering. Trev and I had a go at the smashing and straining part, we'll definitely leave the straining part for the professionals.

Here's Jo making paper and Trev also having an attempt.

And lastly the great people who took us to the village.