The story of genuine paper happened in China. Similar to the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, virtually fifty centuries in the past, created a pictographic form of writing. They also had been using several types of objects to write upon, most commonly pieces of bamboo and processed silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they were making for other purposes derived out of the Paper. Mulberry was also used.
Historical documentation leads us to believe that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official going by the name of Tsai Lung, developed papyrus, although it is almost certain from finds by archaeologists that in fact it was around in South East Asia for at least two centuries prior to him.
In olden times setting down words was usually done on some derivative of bamboo or occasionally on lengths of silk, which were known as Ji in those days. But the great price of silk and the weight of bamboo, these two materials were not of great use. Then Tsai Lun thought of utilizing bark from trees, hemp, fish nets, and rags. In 105AD he delivered a report to the emperor about the production of paper and got high accolade for his ideas. Consequently, since that time paper has been used in almost every place on earth and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed this historical reference is Marquis Tsai's entitlement or not, will very likely never be known! However, the most important consideration has to be that it was discovered that they could pound certain substances taken from plant material in to a paste, abolish impure substances, put the paste in water, filter it onto fabric sheets allowing it to dry. After drying, it calcified into a firm, durable sheet that turned out to be really light, and providing it was not allowed to get damp or wet, proved incredibly robust.
It's a fact that this very simple of paper making techniques is still practised in precisely the same way in and around Tibet and Nepal, the first countries to pick up the craft from what is now the People's Republic of China. A basic frame has a cloth made from cotton made to stretch over a side, diluted grume is put into the opposite side and spread around until it is smooth. Then it is left hanging so that it will let the liquid to drain and the mash to dry in to a parchment sheet which can be removed.
By and by a clever developer came to the conclusion that building a frame with ribbing and putting a delicate removable bamboo mat over it, would enable the paper-making procedure to be speeded up enormously. Instead of tying up one mold for each sheet of parchment, therefore severely restricting the number of sheets that could be manufactured at the same time, a stack of sieved pulp was able to be built up a layer at a time, with only a strip of cotton thread between them in order to help with separation at a later time. The stack would then be pressed gently, and every layer of mache moved to a place to dry.