Xue Liang, head of the exhibition's curatorial team, says many literary personas in the Song Dynasty, such as the great poet Su Shi and esteemed calligrapher Huang Tingjian, were involved in the design and printing of their own huajian paper. Xue says the patterns they created were sometimes so subtle that they could only be discerned and appreciated by viewing the paper from different angles.

Wu, the director, says the patterned paper reminds him of Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) literati Wen Zhenheng's best-known work, Treatise on Superfluous Things (Zhangwu Zhi), which is noted as an encyclopedia of how well-educated members of society lived a materially rich cultural life.

"Wen meticulously described every tree, flower, book, and painting. Underneath, he was investigating the relationships between objects and people in social development and in the course of history,"Wu adds.

He says huajian paper may also be seen as superfluous, but when people continue to seek an elegant lifestyle manifested in refined objects imbued with genuine emotion, these tiny sheets of paper remain essential to cultural life.

That sentiment motivated the birth of Shizhuzhai Jianpu (Ten Bamboo Studio Letter Paper Design Collection), highly recognized as a pinnacle of the huajian paper art. Supervised by Ming Dynasty publisher Hu Zhengyan, four volumes cataloged over 280 illustrations rendered with rich colors and vivid imagery, owing to collaboration between scholars, artists and master engravers.