The origins of true paper started in China. Similar to the Egyptians, the Chinese had, almost fifty centuries ago, invented a kind of writing that used pictures. They too had been utilizing various types of objects to write on, most usually strips of bamboo and woven silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they utilized for other reasons derived from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of too.
Historical documentation tells us that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official by the name of Tsai Lung, brought out paper, although it is almost certain from archaeological digs that actually it was being worked with in South East Asia for at least two hundred years prior to him.
Way back in ancient times writing was mainly done on some derivative of bamboo or sometimes on pieces of silk, which were called Ji in those days. But silk being expensive and bamboo being too weighty, these two materials were not of great use. At this time Tsai Lun thought of making use of tree bark, rags, fish nets, and hemp. In 105AD he delivered a report to the emperor about the process of paper manufacture and received much praise for his creativity. From those distant times paper has been used everywhere and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether the above historical tag is accurate, will very likely never be known! However, the major factor has to be that they discovered that if they ground particular compounds derived from plant matter into a mash, withdraw impure materials, put the mash in liquid, sieve it onto cloth sheets and allow it to dry. After drying, it caked into a hard, durable sheet that was surprisingly light, and provided that it was not allowed to get wet, proved very robust.
This simplest of paper making techniques is even now in use in exactly the same way in Nepal and Tibet, the first areas to take the technolgies from what is now the People's Republic of China. A basic frame utilises a cotton cloth pulled and held over one side, thin paste is poured in to the other end and spread around until it is level. It is then left hanging somewhere to enable the water to leave it and the pulp to dry into a sheet of parchment which will be able to be removed by stripping off.
There came a time when a very clever individual came to the conclusion that constructing a frame with ribs and placing a fine bamboo mat that is replaceable over this, would allow the paper-making process to be accelerated greatly. Rather than utilizing a single mould for each sheet of paper, therefore severely restricting the amount of sheets that may be manufactured at the same time, a stack of sieved mush was able to be built up layer upon layer, with just a strip of cotton thread between them in order to help with separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed lightly, and every layer of mache shifted to a dry place.