The history of true paper happened in what is now the People's Republic of China. Similar to the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, almost fifty centuries ago, invented a style of writing that used pictures. The Egyptians too had been making use of several types of objects to write upon, most notably lengths of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and possibly the barkcloth they used for other uses derived out of the Paper. Mulberry was made use of too.
Historical documentation leads us to believe that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official named Tsai Lung, brought out usable paper, although it seems from archaeological finds that in fact it was being worked with in China for more than likely two centuries before him.
Back in ancient times gone by scribing was usually on some form of bamboo or on pieces of silk, which were known as Ji then. Nonetheless the great price of silk and bamboo being heavy, these two materials were not of great use. Due to this Tsai Lun thought of utilizing the bark from trees, fish nets, rags, and hemp. In 105AD he submitted a report to the emperor regarding the production of paper and got high praise for his abilities. Since that time paper has been used in almost every place on earth and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If this accolade is Tsai's entitlement or not, will probably never be uncovered! But the major consideration has to be that it was found that if they pounded some compounds taken from plant matter into a paste, discard unwanted materials, place the paste in liquid, screen it out onto fabric sheets giving it enough time to dry out. After drying, it caked into a firm, tough sheet that turned out to be extraordinarily light, and as long as it did not get damp, proved very robust.
This the most simple of paper making techniques is still practised in precisely the same way in Nepal and Tibet, the first countries to take the craft from South East Asia. A simple frame utilises a cotton cloth stretched over one side, very watery mache is put in to the opposite side and moved around until it is level. After which it is suspended in order for it to let the water to drain out of it and the mash to dry into a parchment sheet which may be peeled off.
Eventually a very clever individual came to the conclusion that constructing a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and putting a fine bamboo mat that is removable across it, would allow the procedure to be accelerated incredibly. Rather than utilizing a single mold for each sheet of paper, therefore severely limiting the number of sheets that could be manufactured at the same time, a stack of sieved pulp could be built up layer upon layer, with just a length of cotton thread between them which would enable later separation. The stack would then be squeezed slightly, and every layer of grume shifted to a dry place.