The history of real paper began in what is now the People's Republic of China. Similar to the Egyptians, the Chinese had, almost 5000 years in the past, invented a type of pictographic writing. They also had been making use of several types of things to write upon, usually pieces of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and it is possible that the barkcloth they used for other reasons derived from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of as well.
Historical documentation points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ a member of the government called Tsai Lung, developed paper, although it seems from finds by archaeologists that it was actually being used in South East Asia for probably two centuries before Tsai Lung.
Back during ancient times gone by setting down words was mainly on bamboo or occasionally on strips of silk, which were called Ji in those days. But the soaring cost of silk and bamboo being very heavy, these two materials were not convenient. Then Tsai Lun thought of utilizing bark, hemp, rags, and fish nets. In 105AD he submitted a report to the emperor on the process of paper making and received much praise for his thoughts. Consequently, from those distant times paper has been in use everywhere and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If the above historical tag is Tsai's entitlement, will probably not ever be known! Nevertheless the major consideration has to be that they found that if they pounded particular substances derived from plant matter in to a grume, evacuate impurities, place the grume in water, screen it out onto textile sheets giving it time to dry. After drying, it compressed into a firm, firm sheet that turned out to be incredibly light, and providing it did not get damp, proved remarkably tenacious.
This most simple of paper making technologies is even now in use in precisely a similar way around Tibet and Nepal, the first areas to take the technolgies from China. A basic frame has a cloth made from cotton stretched over a single side, watery mush is poured into the far side and moved around until it is level. After which it is left that will let the liquid to leave it and the paste to dry into a parchment sheet which can be taken off.
As time passed a talented developer figured that constructing a frame with ribs and putting in place a fine replaceable bamboo mat over it, would enable the procedure to be accelerated to a great degree. Instead of using one mould for every sheet of parchment, severely restricting the number of sheets that may be manufactured at one time, a stack of sieved pulp could be built up layer upon layer, with merely a length of cotton thread between them in order to enable separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed lightly, and each layer of mache shifted to a board to dry.