The story of true paper began in China. Similar to the Egyptians, the Chinese had, virtually 50 centuries ago, created a type of pictographic writing. The Egyptians too had been utilizing various things to write on, most usually strips of bamboo and woven silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they utilized for other purposes derived from the Paper. Mulberry was used as well.
Historical documentation points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official called Tsai Lung, brought out papyrus, although it seems from archaeological discoveries that in fact it was being worked with in what is now the People's Republic of China for probably two centuries before Tsai Lung.
During times gone by writing was generally on bamboo or sometimes on pieces of silk, which were known as Ji then. Nevertheless the great price of silk and bamboo being very heavy, these two materials were inconvenient. About this time Tsai Lun thought of making use of the bark from trees, rags, hemp, and fish nets. In 105AD he put an idea to the emperor with regard to the process of paper making and received much praise for his creativity. Since those days paper has been in use universally and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether the above title is correct or not, will very likely never be known! But the most important factor must be that it was discovered that if they ground particular compounds taken from plants into a mash, separate unwanted materials, put the mash in liquid, screen it onto cloth sheets giving it time to dry. When it dried, it calcified into a firm, firm sheet that was incredibly light, and as long as it was not allowed to get wet, proved extremely dense.
It's a fact that this most simple of papermaking technologies is still in use in exactly a similar way in and around Tibet and Nepal, the very first places to make use of the technolgies from South East Asia. A simple frame makes use of a type of cotton cloth made to stretch over a side, diluted grume is put in to the opposite side and spread around until it has become even. Then it is left hanging in order for it to let the water to drain and the mache to dry in to a paper sheet which will be able to be removed by peeling.
Eventually an extremely talented developer came to realize that making a frame with ribbing and putting in place a delicate bamboo mat that is replaceable across this, would allow the process to be accelerated enormously. Rather than utilizing a single mould for every sheet of paper, severely restricting the amount of sheets that may be made at one time, a stack of sieved paste could be built up layer upon layer, with merely a strip of cotton thread between them to help with separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed lightly, and each layer of pulp transferred to a dry board.