The story of real paper happened in China. Like the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, virtually 50 centuries ago, brought out a pictographic form of writing. They also had been making use of several types of objects to scribe upon, usually strips of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and it is possible that the barkcloth they utilized for other purposes derived from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of also.
Historical documentation points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ a government worker called Tsai Lung, invented usable paper, though it is almost certain from archaeological finds that in fact it was in existence in what is now the People's Republic of China for more than likely two hundred years before him.
During olden times setting down words or pictograms was usually on some form of bamboo or on lengths of silk, which were known as Ji then. But the great price of silk and bamboo being too heavy, these materials were not of great use. Then Tsai Lun thought of using the bark from trees, rags, fish nets, and hemp. In 105AD he made a report to the emperor with regard to the process of paper making and got high accolade for his ideas. Consequently, from that time paper has been used every place and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed the above historical tag is deserved, will very likely never be known! However, the main consideration must be that the discovery was made that they could pound certain substances derived from plant material into a pulp, abolish impure substances, place the pulp in liquid, filter it out onto fabric sheets and allow it to dry. When fully dried, it caked into a hard, robust sheet that was particularly light, and providing it did not get wet, turned out to be surprisingly firm.
It's a fact that this most simple of paper making techniques is still in use in precisely the same way in and around Tibet and Nepal, the first places to take the technolgies from South East Asia. A simple frame has a type of cotton cloth stretched over a single side, diluted paste is situated in to the other end and spread about until it has reached a level. Then it is left suspended somewhere to let the water to drain and the mush to dry into a paper sheet which will be able to be removed by stripping off.
At some stage an extremely talented developer worked out that constructing a frame with ribs and placing a delicate bamboo mat that is replaceable across this, would enable the procedure to be quickened incredibly. Rather than tying up one mould for each sheet of paper, therefore severely restricting the number of sheets that may be manufactured at one time, a stack of sieved mash was able to be built up layer upon layer, with only a piece of cotton thread between them which would enable later separation. The stack would then be pressed very gently, and every sheet of mache shifted to a place to dry.