The history of real paper began in China. Similar to the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, almost fifty centuries in the past, developed a pictographic type of writing. The Egyptians too had been making use of many different kinds of things to write on, most commonly lengths 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 used also.
Legend points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official named Tsai Lung, invented usable paper, although it appears from archaeological digs that in fact it was being used in what is now the People's Republic of China for probably two centuries prior to him.
During times gone by setting down words was generally done on bamboo or sometimes on strips of silk, which were known as Ji in those days. Nevertheless the great price of silk and bamboo being too weighty, these two materials were not of great use. Due to this Tsai Lun thought of using bark, hemp, rags, and fish nets. In 105AD he put an idea to the emperor regarding the process of paper manufacture and was endowed with high accolade for his creativity. From that time paper has been used everywhere and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether this accolade is deserved, will probably not ever be known! However, the major consideration must be that they found that if they pounded particular compounds derived from plant matter into a mash, separate impurities, float the mash in water, screen it out onto cloth sheets allowing it to dry. After the drying process was complete, it dried into a firm, tough sheet that was really light, and as long as it did not get damp or wet, turned out to be surprisingly resilient.
It's a fact that this very simple of papermaking technologies is still in use in precisely the same way in Tibet and Nepal, the first countries to learn the technolgies from South East Asia. A basic frame utilizes a kind of cotton cloth stretched over a single side, watery grume is emptied in to the other end and moved around until it is level. It is then left suspended in order for it to enable the liquid to drain out of it and the mush to dry in to a sheet of paper which may be removed.
At some stage a clever developer figured that building a frame with ribs and putting in place a fine bamboo mat that is replaceable over this, would let the paper-making process to be speeded up incredibly. Instead of utilizing a single mold for every sheet of parchment, therefore severely restricting the amount of sheets that may be produced at the same time, a stack of sieved paste could be built up layer upon layer, with just a piece of cotton thread between them in order to help with later separation. The stack would then be squeezed slightly, and each layer of pulp transferred to a board to dry.