The story of genuine paper started in South East Asia. Like the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, nearly 5,000 years ago, developed a pictographic form of writing. They too had been making use of various types of things to write upon, most usually strips of bamboo and processed silk and possibly the barkcloth they utilized for other purposes derived from the Paper. Mulberry was used also.
Historical documentation tells us that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official going by the name of Tsai Lung, created paper, although it seems from archaeological finds that in fact it was in existence in China for at least two centuries before Tsai Lung.
In ancient times writing was generally on bamboo or sometimes on lengths of silk, which were called Ji in those days. Nonetheless the cost of silk and bamboo being weighty, these materials were not of great use. Around then Tsai Lun thought of utilizing bark from trees, hemp, fish nets, and rags. In 105AD he submitted a report to the emperor with regard to the process of paper making and was endowed with high accolade for his ability. From those distant days paper has been in use every place and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed the above title is deserved, will very likely never be uncovered! However, the most important factor must be that they discovered that they could grind particular substances taken from plant matter in to a paste, expunge impure substances, float the paste in water, sieve it out onto cloth sheets and give it time to dry out. After drying, it consolidated into a hard, robust sheet that turned out to be remarkably light, and as long as it was not allowed to get wet, proved incredibly dense.
This most straightforward of paper making technologies is even now practised in precisely the same way in Tibet and Nepal, the initial areas to pick up the techniques from what is now the People's Republic of China. A basic frame makes use of a kind of cotton cloth pulled and held over one side, very watery mush is poured into the other end and spread around until it has reached a level. Then it is left hanging in order for it to enable the liquid to leave it and the pulp to dry in to a sheet of paper which can be stripped off.
At some stage a developer with great skills came to realize that making a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and putting a delicate replaceable bamboo mat across this, would let the paper-making process to be speeded up fantastically. Rather than utilizing a single mold for every sheet of parchment, severely limiting the number of sheets that may be produced at one time, a stack of sieved grume was able to be built up layer upon layer, with merely a piece of cotton thread between them which would help with separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed very lightly, and each sheet of mash moved to a board to dry.