A brief history of the umbrella

    The origin of the earliest umbrella is unknown, but it is said in Asia that the umbrella was invented by Lu Ban's wife in the end of Spring and Autumn Period. At the very beginning, handmade umbrellas were made of feather, silk etc. In Tang Dynasty, the paper industry had been developed well so oil-paper umbrella was invented, using the paper coated with tung oil to make it rainproof. This oil-paper umbrella has been circulated around to Japan, North Korea and other Asian regions. After Ming Dynasty, this kind of oil-paper umbrella began to spread among the people.

    In Europe, the earliest umbrella was made in England in the 18th century. It is said that an England businessman took the umbrella back to England from China. Until then, there were only parasols for sun protection in Europe and umbrellas were considered to be used by women. In 1928, German Hans Haup invented the first folding umbrella. Nowadays, various umbrella manufacturers have continued to ingeniously improve and are committed to developing more convenient umbrellas.