The history of true paper happened in South East Asia. Similar to the Egyptians, the Chinese had, nearly 50 centuries in the past, created a kind of writing that used pictures. The Egyptians too had been utilizing various things to write on, most notably strips of bamboo and processed silk and possibly the barkcloth they utilized for other purposes from the Paper. Mulberry was used also.
History leads us to believe that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official named Tsai Lung, developed paper, though it is almost certain from archaeological digs that in fact it was in existence in China for more than likely two centuries prior to Tsai Lung.
Back during olden times setting down words or pictograms was generally on some form of bamboo or on lengths of silk, which were known as Ji in those days. Nevertheless the cost of silk and bamboo being very weighty, these two materials were inconvenient. Due to these factors Tsai Lun came up with the idea of using the bark from trees, hemp, rags, and fish nets. In 105AD he made a report to the emperor regarding the process of paper making and got high praise for his abilities. Since those days paper has been utilized every place and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If this accolade is deserved or not, will likely not ever be known! But the main consideration must be that they found that they could grind some compounds taken from plant matter in to a mache, oust impure materials, float the mache in water, filter it out onto fabric sheets giving it time to dry. When it dried, it conglomerated into a firm, tough sheet that was remarkably light, and provided that it was not allowed to get damp, turned out to be incredibly resilient.
This the most simple of papermaking technologies is even now practised in precisely a similar way in Tibet and Nepal, the initial places to take the craft from what is now the People's Republic of China. A simple frame utilises a kind of cotton cloth pulled and held over a single side, very watery grume is put into the opposite end and spread around until it has reached an even state. It is then suspended in order for it to enable the liquid to leave it and the mash to dry in to a paper sheet which can be removed by stripping off.
By and by a very clever individual came to the conclusion that making a frame with ribbing and placing a delicate bamboo mat that is removable over this, would allow the paper-making procedure to be speeded up fantastically. Instead of tying up one mould for every sheet of paper, consequently severely limiting the amount of sheets that can be made at one time, a stack of sieved paste could be built up layer upon layer, with merely a piece of cotton thread between them to facilitate later separation. The stack would then be squeezed very slightly, and each sheet of mush transferred to a dry board.