The story of genuine paper began in China. Similar to the people of Egypt, the Chinese had, virtually 5000 years in the past, invented a style of writing that used pictures. They also had been using various things to write upon, most commonly pieces of bamboo and processed silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they were making for other reasons from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of as well.
History points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ a member of the government going by the name of Tsai Lung, developed usable paper, although it is almost certain from finds by archaeologists that actually it was being used in South East Asia for at least two hundred years before him.
In times gone by writing was mainly done on some derivative of bamboo or occasionally on lengths of silk, which were then called ji. Nonetheless silk being expensive and the weight of bamboo, these two materials were not of great use. Due to these factors Tsai Lun came up with the idea of utilizing tree bark, rags, hemp, and fish nets. In 105AD he made a report to the emperor about the process of paper manufacture and was endowed with many accolades for his ideas. Since those days paper has been used every place and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If this historical reference is deserved, will likely not ever be known! Nevertheless the important factor must be that it was found that if they pounded particular compounds taken from plant matter in to a mash, throw out spume, place the mash in water, sieve it out onto cloth sheets and allow it to dry. When it dried, it congealed into a firm, robust sheet that was remarkably light, and provided that it did not get damp, turned out to be incredibly tough.
This most straightforward of papermaking techniques is still in use in precisely the same way in and around Nepal and Tibet, the initial regions to take the techniques from what is now the People's Republic of China. A simple frame has a cloth made from cotton pulled and held over a single side, thin mush is put into the far side and spread around until it has reached an even state. After which it is suspended somewhere to enable the liquid to drain and the mache to dry in to a paper sheet which will be able to be stripped off.
As time passed a very clever individual came to the conclusion that making a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and placing a delicate replaceable bamboo mat across this, would allow the procedure to be quickened to a great degree. Rather than utilizing a single mould for each sheet of paper, severely limiting the amount of sheets that are able to be made at one time, a stack of sieved grume could be built up a layer at a time, with merely a strip of cotton thread between them to help with separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed gently, and every sheet of pulp shifted to a board to dry.