The story of genuine paper started in South East Asia. Similar to the Egyptians, the Chinese had, nearly fifty centuries in the past, invented a style of writing that used images. They too had been making use of various types of things to scribe upon, most usually pieces of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and possibly the barkcloth they used for other uses derived from the Paper. Mulberry was used as well.
Historical documentation tells us that in 105 years after the birth of Christ a member of the government named Tsai Lung, created paper, although it is almost certain from archaeological digs that it was in fact around in what is now the People's Republic of China for more than likely two hundred years before Tsai Lung.
In olden times writing was mainly done on bamboo or occasionally on lengths of silk, which were then called ji. Nonetheless the great price of silk and bamboo being too weighty, these two materials were not convenient. About this time Tsai Lun came up with the idea of using the bark from trees, rags, fish nets, and hemp. In 105AD he put an idea to the emperor with regard to the production of paper and got many accolades for his ideas. From those distant times paper has been in use all over and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed the above title is relevant, will likely never be known! Nevertheless the most important consideration has to be that it was discovered that if they ground particular compounds taken from plants in to a mush, remove unwanted materials, place the mush in liquid, filter it onto textile sheets giving it time to dry. After drying, it consolidated into a firm, resilient sheet that was astonishingly light, and provided that it was not allowed to get damp, proved decidedly tenacious.
This the most simple of paper making technologies is still in use in precisely the same way around Tibet and Nepal, the first places to pick up the craft from China. A basic frame utilises a kind of cotton cloth pulled and held over one side, very watery pulp is situated into the far side and moved around until it is even. It is then suspended somewhere to enable the water to leave it and the paste to dry in to a parchment sheet which may be removed by stripping off.
As time went by a very talented individual came to the conclusion that constructing a frame with ribbing and putting a delicate bamboo mat that is removable over this, would allow the paper-making procedure to be accelerated incredibly. Rather than utilizing a single mold for each paper sheet, consequently severely restricting the amount of sheets that could be made at the same time, a stack of sieved mash was able to be built up a layer at a time, with merely a piece of cotton thread between them in order to facilitate separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed lightly, and every sheet of grume moved to a place to dry.