The story of genuine paper started in South East Asia. Like the Egyptians, the Chinese had, almost 50 centuries ago, created a form of pictographic writing. The Egyptians too had been utilizing various kinds of objects to write on, most usually pieces 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 as well.
Historical documentation points to the fact that in 105AD a member of the government by the name of Tsai Lung, brought out paper, although it is almost certain from archaeological discoveries that in fact it was being used in what is now the People's Republic of China for probably two hundred years before him.
Back during ancient times setting down words was usually done on bamboo or occasionally on strips of silk, which were known as Ji then. However, silk being expensive and bamboo being too heavy, these two materials were not convenient. At this time Tsai Lun came up with the idea of using bark, hemp, rags, and fish nets. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he made a report to the emperor regarding the production of paper and was endowed with high praise for his inventions. From that time paper has been used all over and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed this particular claim is relevant, will very likely never be uncovered! But the most important consideration has to be that they found that they could pound some compounds taken from plants into a paste, evacuate unwanted substances, float the paste in water, screen it out onto fabric sheets giving it enough time to dry out. When fully dried, it conglomerated into a hard, durable sheet that was astonishingly light, and as long as it was not allowed to get damp or wet, proved surprisingly firm.
It's a fact that this extremely simple of paper making technologies is even now still being used in exactly a similar way within Nepal and Tibet, the very first countries to make use of the technolgies from China. A simple frame utilizes a cloth manufactured from cotton stretched over a single side, watery mush is emptied in to the opposite end and spread around until it has become even. Then it is suspended that will let the liquid to drain and the grume to dry in to a sheet of parchment which may be removed by peeling.
As time passed an extremely talented developer worked out that building a frame with ribs and putting in place a fine replaceable bamboo mat over this, would enable the paper-making process to be quickened to a much greater degree. Rather than tying up a single mould for every parchment sheet, severely limiting the amount of sheets that may be produced at the same time, a stack of sieved mache was able to be built up a layer at a time, with only a length of cotton thread between them to facilitate later separation. The stack would then be pressed slightly, and each sheet of mash moved to a dry board.