The history of true paper started in South East Asia. Similar to the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, nearly 5000 years ago, developed a kind of writing that used images. They too had been making use of several kinds of objects to scribe on, most commonly strips of bamboo and woven silk and possibly the barkcloth they used for other purposes from the Paper. Mulberry was ased too.
Legend leads us to believe that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official going by the name of Tsai Lung, brought out paper, though it is clear from finds by archaeologists that it was in fact being used in what is now the People's Republic of China for more than likely two hundred years prior to him.
In times gone by setting down words was mainly on bamboo or on lengths of silk, which were called Ji in those days. Nonetheless the soaring cost of silk and bamboo being heavy, these materials were inconvenient. About this time Tsai Lun came up with the idea of utilizing bark from trees, hemp, fish nets, and rags. In 105AD he submitted a report to the emperor regarding the production of paper and was endowed with high praise for his inventions. Since then paper has been utilized everywhere and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If this accolade is deserved, will likely never be known! But the major factor is that they discovered that if they ground particular compounds derived from plant material into a grume, displace impure materials, put the grume in liquid, screen it onto textile sheets giving it time to dry. When fully dried, it calcified into a firm, firm sheet that was incredibly light, and provided that it did not get damp or wet, proved remarkably dense.
This the most simple of paper making techniques is still practised in precisely the same way within Nepal and Tibet, the first places to pick up the technolgies from China. A simple frame utilises a cloth made from cotton pulled and held over one side, watery mache is emptied in to the far side and spread around until it is level. Then it is left hanging somewhere to let the water to drain and the paste to dry in to a parchment sheet which will be able to be stripped off.
As time went by a clever developer realized that building a frame with ribbing and placing a fine removable bamboo mat across it, would allow the paper-making process to be speeded up incredibly. Rather than using a single mold for each paper sheet, severely limiting the number of sheets that are able to be manufactured at the same time, a stack of sieved mush was able to be built up layer upon layer, with just a strip of cotton thread between them which would enable separation at a later time. The stack would then be pressed very gently, and every sheet of mash moved to a board to dry.