The origins of proper paper began in what is now the People's Republic of China. Like the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, nearly five thousand years ago, created a kind of writing that used pictures. The Egyptians also had been utilizing several types of things to scribe on, usually pieces of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and it is possible that the barkcloth they made for other uses derived from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of too.
History leads us to believe that in 105AD an official by the name of Tsai Lung, invented paper, though it appears from archaeological discoveries that actually it was being used in China for at least two hundred years prior to Tsai Lung.
In ancient times setting down words was usually on some form of bamboo or sometimes on lengths of silk, which were known as Ji in those days. Nevertheless the cost of silk and bamboo being too weighty, these materials were not convenient. About this time Tsai Lun thought of using bark from trees, fish nets, rags, and hemp. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he delivered a report to the emperor about the process of paper manufacture and got high accolade for his thoughts. Since then paper has been in use universally and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether this historical reference is deserved, will probably never be uncovered! However, the major factor is that they discovered that if they pounded particular compounds derived from plant matter into a paste, expel impure substances, float the paste in water, screen it onto textile sheets and give it time to dry out. When it dried, it dried into a hard, resilient sheet that turned out to be astonishingly light, and providing it did not come into contact with water, proved really tenacious.
This most simple of paper making techniques is still being used in exactly the same way in and around Tibet and Nepal, the first countries to take the technolgies from South East Asia. A simple frame utilises a kind of cotton cloth pulled and held over a single side, watery mush is emptied in to the far end and moved around until it has reached an even state. Then it is left suspended so that it will let the liquid to drain and the mache to dry in to a paper sheet which will be able to be peeled off.
As time went by an extremely clever individual figured that constructing a frame with ribs and putting a delicate bamboo mat that is replaceable across this, would allow the process to be quickened fantastically. Rather than using one mould for every sheet of paper, therefore severely limiting the number of sheets that can be manufactured at the same time, a stack of sieved pulp was able to be built up a layer at a time, with just a strip of cotton thread between them which would help with separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed lightly, and each sheet of grume moved to a dry place.