The history of true paper happened in China. Like the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, virtually fifty centuries in the past, created a pictographic form of writing. They too had been making use of various things to scribe upon, most notably strips of bamboo and processed silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they made for other uses derived out of the Paper. Mulberry was also used.
History tells us that in 105AD a member of the government called Tsai Lung, invented papyrus, though it appears from finds by archaeologists that it was actually in existence in what is now the People's Republic of China for more than likely two centuries prior to Tsai Lung.
Way back in ancient times gone by setting down words or pictograms was mainly done on some derivative of bamboo or occasionally on pieces of silk, which were called Ji in those days. But the great price of silk and bamboo being too weighty, these materials were inconvenient. Due to this Tsai Lun thought of using the bark from trees, fish nets, hemp, and rags. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he put an idea to the emperor about the process of paper manufacture and got high accolade for his creativity. Consequently, since then paper has been in use in almost every place on earth and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether the above title is deserved or not, will likely never be uncovered! Nonetheless the important thing must be that they found that if they ground particular compounds taken from plants in to a pulp, expunge unwanted substances, float the pulp in liquid, filter it onto fabric sheets giving it time to dry. When it dried, it calcified into a hard, durable sheet that turned out to be surprisingly light, and provided that it was not allowed to come into contact with water, turned out to be extraordinarily tenacious.
It's a fact that this simple of papermaking techniques is still being used in precisely the same way within Tibet and Nepal, the very first places to take the techniques from South East Asia. A basic frame utilises a kind of cotton cloth pulled and held over a single side, diluted grume is situated into the far side and spread about until it has reached a level. After which it is suspended in order for it to let the water to drain and the paste to dry into a sheet of parchment which may be taken off.
At some point in time a talented developer worked out that building a frame with ribbing and putting a delicate replaceable bamboo mat across this, would enable the paper-making process to be quickened to a much greater degree. Rather than utilizing a single mold for every paper sheet, therefore severely restricting the amount of sheets that are able to be made at the same time, a stack of sieved mache could be built up a layer at a time, with just a strip of cotton thread between them which would facilitate later separation. The stack would then be pressed very slightly, and each layer of mush moved to a board to dry.