The origins of genuine paper began in what is now the People's Republic of China. Similar to the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, virtually five thousand years in the past, invented a style of writing that used images. They also had been making use of many different types of things to write on, most notably pieces of bamboo and woven silk and possibly the barkcloth they were making for other purposes derived from the Paper. Mulberry was also used.
Historical documentation leads us to believe that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official by the name of Tsai Lung, brought out papyrus, although it appears from archaeological discoveries that it was in fact around in China for at least two centuries prior to him.
Back during olden times scribing was usually on bamboo or on strips of silk, which were then called ji. Nonetheless silk being expensive and bamboo being weighty, these materials were not convenient. Due to these factors Tsai Lun thought of using tree bark, fish nets, rags, and hemp. In 105AD he put an idea to the emperor on the process of paper making and was endowed with high accolade for his thoughts. From this time paper has been used universally and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether this accolade is deserved or not, will very likely never be known! But the most important factor is that they discovered that if they pounded particular plant-derived compounds in to a mache, eliminate unwanted materials, put the mache in liquid, screen it out onto textile sheets and allow it to dry. After the drying process was complete, it compressed into a firm, resilient sheet that was particularly light, and provided that it did not get damp, proved extraordinarily durable.
This most simple of paper making technologies is still practised in precisely a similar way in Tibet and Nepal, the first regions to make use of the techniques from South East Asia. A simple frame utilizes a cloth made from cotton stretched over a single side, watery mash is situated into the far end and spread about until it is level. It is then suspended somewhere to allow the water to drain and the pulp to dry into a parchment sheet which can be taken off.
As time passed a developer with great skills worked out that manufacturing a frame with ribs and putting a fine removable bamboo mat over it, would enable the procedure to be quickened to a much greater degree. Instead of tying up one mold for every paper sheet, therefore severely restricting the number of sheets that could be manufactured at one time, a stack of sieved mush could be built up a layer at a time, with only a piece of cotton thread between them in order to help with separation at a later time. The stack would then be pressed slightly, and each layer of grume shifted to a dry board.