The history of genuine paper happened in what is now the People's Republic of China. Like the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, almost 5,000 years in the past, developed a pictographic style of writing. They too had been utilizing various objects to scribe upon, usually lengths of bamboo and woven silk and possibly the barkcloth they were using for other unconnected purposes derived from the Paper. Mulberry was used also.
History tells us that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official named Tsai Lung, invented papyrus, though it is almost certain from finds by archaeologists that actually it was around in South East Asia for at least two hundred years prior to Tsai Lung.
Way back during ancient times gone by writing was usually done on bamboo or on strips of silk, which were then called ji. However, the cost of silk and bamboo being too weighty, these materials were not of great use. About this time Tsai Lun came up with the idea of using the bark from trees, fish nets, rags, and hemp. In 105AD he submitted a report to the emperor about the process of paper manufacture and received many accolades for his thoughts. Since those days paper has been utilized every place and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If this historical reference is correct, will very likely never be known! Nevertheless what is important is that it was discovered that if they ground certain plant-derived compounds in to a pulp, shed impurities, put the pulp in liquid, sieve it onto textile sheets and allow it to dry. When fully dried, it compacted into a firm, durable sheet that turned out to be extraordinarily light, and as long as it did not come into contact with water, turned out to be surprisingly robust.
It's a fact that this very straightforward of paper making techniques is even now in use in exactly a similar way around Nepal and Tibet, the first countries to pick up the techniques from China. A basic frame utilizes a cloth manufactured from cotton made to stretch over a side, thin mush is situated into the opposite end and spread about until it is even. It is then suspended that will allow the water to drain and the grume to dry in to a parchment sheet which may be removed by peeling.
At some point in time an extremely talented individual came to realize that manufacturing a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and putting a delicate removable bamboo mat over this, would let the paper-making process to be quickened greatly. Instead of using a single mould for every sheet of parchment, consequently severely limiting the amount of sheets that are able to be made at the same time, a stack of sieved mash was able to be built up a layer at a time, with just a length of cotton thread between them to enable separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed very gently, and each sheet of mache shifted to a board to dry.