The origins of real paper started in South East Asia. Like the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, nearly fifty centuries in the past, developed a pictographic form of writing. They also had been using various kinds of things to scribe upon, notably lengths of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and it is possible that the barkcloth they were using for other unconnected purposes derived from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of too.
Historical documentation leads us to believe that in 105AD a government worker going by the name of Tsai Lung, invented paper, though it appears from finds by archaeologists that it was in fact in existence in China for at least two hundred years before Tsai Lung.
Back in ancient times setting down words or pictograms was mainly done on bamboo or occasionally on pieces of silk, which were then called ji. Nonetheless the great price of silk and bamboo being too weighty, these materials were not convenient. At this time Tsai Lun thought of utilizing bark, rags, hemp, and fish nets. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he made a report to the emperor with regard to the production of paper and was endowed with high accolade for his inventions. Consequently, from those distant times paper has been used universally and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether this historical reference is correct or not, will probably never be uncovered! Nevertheless the most important thing must be that they discovered that if they pounded certain plant-derived substances into a pulp, throw out impure substances, float the pulp in water, filter it out onto textile sheets allowing it to dry. When it dried, it compressed into a firm, durable sheet that was extremely light, and providing it did not get damp or wet, proved very robust.
This the easiest of paper making techniques is even now practised in precisely the same way in Tibet and Nepal, the initial places to pick up the technolgies from what is now the People's Republic of China. A simple frame has a kind of cotton cloth made to stretch over a side, thin grume is emptied in to the far side and spread around until it is smooth. After which it is left hanging that will let the liquid to leave it and the mache to dry into a sheet of parchment which may be peeled off.
At some point in time a developer with great skills realized that manufacturing a frame with ribbing and placing a delicate bamboo mat that is removable over this, would enable the process to be accelerated to a great degree. Instead of using a single mold for every paper sheet, therefore severely limiting the amount of sheets that are able to be manufactured at the same time, a stack of sieved mush could be built up a layer at a time, with only a strip of cotton thread between them which would enable separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed very gently, and each sheet of mash moved to a dry place.