China discovered the paper map in the Western Han Dynasty, and Cai Lun improved the paper-making technology in the Eastern Han Dynasty, but the main carriers of documents at that time were bamboo slips and silk books. Since Wei and Jin Dynasties, with the development of Buddhism, paper-based scriptures have developed. In the early days, most paper documents were rolled or folded. In the late Tang Dynasty, with the popularization of block printing, butterfly clothing appeared, which was almost the same as the present book form.

Butterfly clothes were popular in Song and Yuan Dynasties, precious quilt clothes were popular in Yuan and Ming Dynasties, and thread clothes were popular in Ming and Qing Dynasties.

The binding form is not the most important basis for identifying the book version, but should be comprehensively judged from the aspects of content, printing and paper quality.