The origins of proper paper started in South East Asia. Like the Egyptians, the Chinese had, almost fifty centuries in the past, brought out a kind of writing that used images. The Egyptians too had been utilizing various types of objects to scribe upon, most commonly pieces of bamboo and woven silk and possibly the barkcloth they utilized for other unconnected purposes from the Paper. Mulberry was used also.
Historical documentation points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ a member of the government by the name of Tsai Lung, invented paper, though it is almost certain from finds by archaeologists that in fact it was being used in China for probably two centuries before him.
Way back in ancient times gone by writing was usually done on bamboo or on strips of silk, which were known as Ji then. Nonetheless silk being expensive and bamboo being too weighty, these materials were not convenient. Due to these factors Tsai Lun came up with the idea of using tree bark, hemp, fish nets, and rags. In 105AD he submitted a report to the emperor about the process of paper manufacture and got much praise for his idea. Consequently, from this time paper has been utilized everywhere and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed the above title is deserved, will probably never be uncovered! But the main factor is that they found that they could pound some compounds derived from plants in to a grume, extract impurities, float the grume in water, filter it out onto cloth sheets allowing it to dry. After the drying process was complete, it compressed into a hard, resilient sheet that was astonishingly light, and provided that it was not allowed to get damp or wet, turned out to be exceedingly durable.
This simplest of paper making techniques is even now in use in precisely a similar way within Nepal and Tibet, the initial regions to make use of the technolgies from what is now the People's Republic of China. A simple frame has a kind of cotton cloth pulled and held over one side, watery pulp is poured into the other end and moved around until it has reached a level. Then it is left in order for it to allow the liquid to drain out of it and the mush to dry into a sheet of paper which can be removed.
By and by a developer with great skills worked out that making a frame with ribbing and putting in place a delicate replaceable bamboo mat across this, would enable the paper-making procedure to be accelerated to a much greater degree. Rather than using a single mold for each sheet of parchment, consequently severely limiting the number of sheets that are able to be made at the same time, a stack of sieved paste was able to be built up a layer at a time, with just a piece of cotton thread between them to facilitate separation at a later time. The stack would then be pressed slightly, and every layer of mache transferred to a board to dry.