The story of genuine paper started in South East Asia. Like the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, virtually fifty centuries in the past, created a style of pictographic writing. They too had been using many different things to write upon, notably lengths of bamboo and processed silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they were making for other reasons derived from the Paper. Mulberry was ased too.
Historical documentation points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official by the name of Tsai Lung, developed paper, although it is clear from archaeological finds that in fact it was in existence in what is now the People's Republic of China for probably two centuries prior to him.
Way back during olden times scribing was usually done on some form of bamboo or on pieces of silk, which were known as Ji in those days. But the great price of silk and bamboo being heavy, these materials were not convenient. Around then Tsai Lun thought of making use of the bark from trees, fish nets, hemp, and rags. In 105AD he submitted a report to the emperor on the production of paper and got high praise for his thoughts. Consequently, from that period paper has been in use every place and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If this historical reference is deserved, will very likely not ever be known! Nevertheless the important thing is that the discovery was made that if they pounded some plant-derived compounds into a paste, abolish impure substances, float the paste in liquid, screen it out onto textile sheets and give it time to dry out. When it dried, it calcified into a firm, tenacious sheet that was incredibly light, and providing it was not allowed to get damp, proved remarkably durable.
This simplest of papermaking techniques is still practised in precisely a similar way around Tibet and Nepal, the first areas to make use of the craft from China. A basic frame utilises a type of cotton cloth pulled and held over one side, watery mash is situated in to the opposite end and moved around until it is smooth. Then it is suspended somewhere to enable the water to drain and the grume to dry in to a paper sheet which can be removed by stripping off.
Eventually a talented developer worked out that constructing a frame with ribs and putting a fine removable bamboo mat across this, would let the procedure to be accelerated fantastically. Rather than tying up one mould for each sheet of parchment, consequently severely limiting the amount of sheets that can be produced at the same time, a stack of sieved mush could be built up layer upon layer, with only a strip of cotton thread between them in order to facilitate later separation. The stack would then be pressed very slightly, and every layer of mache moved to a place to dry.