The history of real paper began in what is now the People's Republic of China. Similar to the Egyptians, the Chinese had, nearly 5000 years in the past, invented a kind of writing that used pictures. They also had been utilizing various kinds of objects to scribe upon, most notably strips of bamboo and woven silk and possibly the barkcloth they utilized for other unconnected purposes derived out of the Paper. Mulberry was used also.
Legend tells us that in 105AD a member of the government going by the name of Tsai Lung, created papyrus, though it appears from archaeological discoveries that actually it was in existence in China for at least two centuries before Tsai Lung.
During ancient times setting down words was mainly done on some form of bamboo or on pieces of silk, which were then called ji. However, the great price of silk and bamboo being very heavy, these materials were not convenient. About this time Tsai Lun came up with the idea of using bark, hemp, rags, and fish nets. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he submitted a report to the emperor on the process of making paper and got high accolade for his thoughts. From that period paper has been used globally and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If this historical reference is Tsai's entitlement or not, will likely never be uncovered! Nonetheless the most important factor must be that it was discovered that they could pound particular substances derived from plants in to a paste, withdraw impure substances, place the paste in liquid, filter it out onto textile sheets allowing it to dry. When it dried, it calcified into a firm, firm sheet that turned out to be extremely light, and provided that it did not get wet, turned out to be really resilient.
This most simple of papermaking technologies is still practised in exactly a similar way within Nepal and Tibet, the very first areas to make use of the technolgies from South East Asia. A simple frame utilises a cloth made from cotton stretched over one side, diluted pulp is situated into the far side and spread about until it is level. It is then suspended so that it will allow the water to drain out of it and the mush to dry in to a paper sheet which can be peeled off.
It eventually came to pass that an extremely talented developer came to realize that building a frame with ribbing and placing a delicate bamboo mat that is replaceable over it, would enable the paper-making procedure to be quickened to a great degree. Rather than tying up a single mould for each parchment sheet, severely restricting the amount of sheets that could be produced at the same time, a stack of sieved mache was able to be built up layer upon layer, with merely a piece of cotton thread between them to facilitate separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed slightly, and every sheet of mash shifted to a board to dry.