The history of genuine paper started in what is now the People's Republic of China. Similar to the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, almost five thousand years in the past, brought out a form of pictographic writing. The Egyptians too had been using many different types of things to write on, notably pieces of bamboo and processed silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they made for other purposes derived out of the Paper. Mulberry was also used.
Legend points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official named Tsai Lung, created usable paper, although it is clear from archaeological finds that it was in fact around in China for probably two hundred years before him.
Way back in ancient times gone by setting down words or pictograms was usually done on bamboo or occasionally on strips of silk, which were known as Ji then. Nonetheless silk being expensive and bamboo being too weighty, these materials were not convenient. Then Tsai Lun thought of making use of bark from trees, fish nets, hemp, and rags. In 105AD he submitted a report to the emperor on the process of paper making and got much praise for his creativity. Since those days paper has been in use all over and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether this particular claim is Marquis Tsai's entitlement, will very likely not ever be known! However, the main consideration is that it was found that they could pound certain substances derived from plants in to a grume, discard spume, put the grume in liquid, screen it out onto fabric sheets giving it time to dry. When fully dried, it calcified into a hard, durable sheet that turned out to be incredibly light, and as long as it was not allowed to get wet, proved extremely robust.
This most simple of papermaking techniques is even now still being used in precisely a similar way in Nepal and Tibet, the first regions to take the techniques from South East Asia. A basic frame utilizes a type of cotton cloth pulled and held over a single side, diluted mache is poured into the opposite end and spread about until it is smooth. After which it is left suspended in order for it to let the water to drain out of it and the pulp to dry in to a parchment sheet which may be stripped off.
As time went by a very clever individual worked out that building a frame with ribbing and placing a delicate bamboo mat that is replaceable across this, would allow the paper-making process to be accelerated greatly. Rather than utilizing a single mould for each paper sheet, consequently severely restricting the amount of sheets that may be manufactured at one time, a stack of sieved paste could be built up layer upon layer, with just a strip of cotton thread between them which would enable later separation. The stack would then be pressed very gently, and every layer of mush moved to a place to dry.