The history of proper paper happened in South East Asia. Similar to the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, nearly 5000 years ago, developed a pictographic type of writing. They too had been using many different kinds of things to scribe on, most notably lengths of bamboo and processed silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they were using for other purposes derived out of the Paper. Mulberry was also used.
Historical documentation points to the fact that in 105AD an official called Tsai Lung, brought out papyrus, although 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 during ancient times setting down words or pictograms was usually on bamboo or occasionally on pieces of silk, which were then called ji. But the cost of silk and bamboo being very heavy, these two materials were inconvenient. Then Tsai Lun came up with the idea of utilizing bark, fish nets, hemp, and rags. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he delivered a report to the emperor with regard to the process of making paper and got many accolades for his creativity. Since then paper has been utilized every place and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed this particular claim is accurate or not, will very likely never be uncovered! However, the main consideration must be that they found that they could grind some plant-derived substances into a pulp, evacuate unwanted materials, put the pulp in water, sieve it onto fabric sheets giving it enough time to dry out. When it dried, it congealed into a hard, tenacious sheet that was astonishingly light, and provided that it was not allowed to come into contact with water, turned out to be incredibly durable.
This most straightforward of papermaking techniques is even now practised in exactly the same way within Nepal and Tibet, the initial areas to pick up the craft from China. A basic frame utilises a cotton cloth stretched over one side, very watery mache is emptied in to the far side and moved around until it is even. Then it is left suspended somewhere to let the liquid to drain and the mush to dry in to a parchment sheet which can be stripped off.
As time passed a talented developer worked out that building a frame with ribs and putting a delicate bamboo mat that is replaceable across this, would enable the paper-making process to be speeded up to a much greater degree. Instead of using one mold for every paper sheet, therefore severely restricting the number of sheets that are able to be produced at one time, a stack of sieved paste could be built up a layer at a time, with merely a piece of cotton thread between them in order to facilitate separation at a later time. The stack would then be pressed lightly, and each sheet of grume moved to a dry place.