The history of genuine paper started in China. Similar to the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, virtually fifty centuries ago, brought out a pictographic form of writing. They too had been using various things to write on, notably pieces of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and possibly the barkcloth they made for other uses from the Paper. Mulberry was used also.
Historical documentation tells us that in 105AD a member of the government called Tsai Lung, invented usable paper, although it seems from archaeological discoveries that actually it was being used in South East Asia for at least two centuries prior to Tsai Lung.
During times gone by scribing was mainly on some derivative of bamboo or sometimes on lengths of silk, which were known as Ji in those days. Nonetheless the prohibitive cost of silk and bamboo being too heavy, these two materials were not convenient. At this time Tsai Lun thought of utilizing bark from trees, hemp, fish nets, and rags. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he put an idea to the emperor on the process of paper making and received many accolades for his ideas. Since those distant days paper has been utilized in almost every place on earth and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether the above title is correct, will very likely never be known! But the major consideration is that they discovered that they could grind certain compounds derived from plant matter into a mush, purge unwanted materials, float the mush in liquid, sieve it onto cloth sheets and give it time to dry out. After the drying process was complete, it congealed into a firm, durable sheet that turned out to be really light, and as long as it did not come into contact with water, proved astonishingly firm.
This easiest of papermaking techniques is still being used in exactly a similar way within Nepal and Tibet, the first places to learn the techniques from what is now the People's Republic of China. A simple frame utilises a kind of cotton cloth stretched over a single side, diluted mache is put in to the opposite side and moved around until it has reached a level. It is then left hanging in order for it to let the water to leave it and the mash to dry in to a sheet of parchment which may be taken off.
By and by a developer with great skills realized that building a frame with ribbing and putting in place a fine bamboo mat that is replaceable across this, would enable the procedure to be accelerated incredibly. Rather than using one mold for each paper sheet, therefore severely limiting the amount of sheets that may be produced at one time, a stack of sieved paste was able to be built up layer upon layer, with just a length of cotton thread between them which would facilitate separation at a later time. The stack would then be pressed lightly, and every sheet of pulp transferred to a dry place.