The oil-paper umbrella has a history of over 1,000 years in China. It used to be a tool for (日常) use. There are different stories about the history of the umbrella in China.
The most popular one is about Lu Ban. It is said that once he and his younger sister visited the West Lake. It started raining all of a (突然). The sister said, "Let's have a competition. Before sunrise tomorrow, who can (创造) a way to make it possible for people to go out on rainy days will be the winner." Lu Ban soon collected some (材料) and tools and spent the whole night building 10 pavilions (凉亭) （在……旁边）the lake. He was quite satisfied with his efforts.
The next morning, however, when Lu Ban was (自豪) of his achievements, his sister held something (不寻常) in her hand. It could be opened into a round shape. It was light, beautiful and easy to carry. Lu Ban said, "You've solved the problem (明智), so you win." Then the umbrella was invented and it (收到) a lot praise from people.
Later, when paper was invented, people used much cheaper paper to replace silk, cutting the cost of umbrellas. . To (阻止) the umbrella from getting wet, people brushed tung oil (桐油) across the surface. That was how the oil-paper umbrella was invented.
