The origins of genuine paper began in China. Similar to the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, virtually 5000 years in the past, brought out a type of writing that used pictures. The Egyptians also had been utilizing various kinds of objects to scribe upon, notably pieces of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and it is possible that the barkcloth they used for other unconnected purposes derived out of the Paper. Mulberry was made use of also.
History points to the fact that in 105AD a member of the government called Tsai Lung, developed paper, although it appears from archaeological discoveries that it was actually in existence in what is now the People's Republic of China for more than likely two centuries before him.
Way back in ancient times setting down words was usually done on bamboo or on strips of silk, which were then called ji. However, the great price of silk and the weight of bamboo, these two materials were not of great use. At this time Tsai Lun thought of using bark from trees, hemp, rags, and fish nets. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he put an idea to the emperor regarding the process of paper making and received high praise for his inventions. Consequently, from that period paper has been availed of all over the world and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether this accolade is correct or not, will very likely not ever be known! But the important consideration is that the discovery was made that if they ground certain substances derived from plants in to a mash, withdraw impure substances, place the mash in water, sieve it onto cloth sheets giving it time to dry. After the drying process was complete, it compacted into a hard, resilient sheet that turned out to be extraordinarily light, and providing it was not allowed to get damp or wet, proved remarkably tough.
This most simple of papermaking techniques is even now still being used in precisely a similar way in Nepal and Tibet, the very first areas to make use of the techniques from South East Asia. A simple frame utilises a type of cotton cloth pulled and held over a single side, watery pulp is emptied into the far end and moved around until it is even. It is then left somewhere to let the liquid to leave it and the paste to dry in to a sheet of parchment which can be peeled off.
As time passed a clever developer worked out that manufacturing a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and putting in place a delicate bamboo mat that is removable over this, would allow the process to be speeded up to a much greater degree. Instead of tying up a single mould for every parchment sheet, therefore severely restricting the number of sheets that could be manufactured at one time, a stack of sieved grume could be built up layer upon layer, with just a piece of cotton thread between them which would help with later separation. The stack would then be squeezed lightly, and each sheet of mush moved to a board to dry.