The history of real paper began in what is now the People's Republic of China. Similar to the Egyptians, the Chinese had, almost 5000 years in the past, created a kind of writing that used images. They also had been utilizing various types of objects to write upon, most usually pieces of bamboo and woven silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they were using for other uses derived out of the Paper. Mulberry was also used.
History leads us to believe that in 105AD a member of the government called Tsai Lung, developed usable paper, though it is clear from archaeological finds that it was in fact around in South East Asia for at least two hundred years prior to Tsai Lung.
Way back in olden times setting down words was mainly on some form of bamboo or sometimes on strips of silk, which were known as Ji in those days. Nonetheless silk being expensive and bamboo being too weighty, these materials were not convenient. About this time Tsai Lun thought of using tree bark, rags, fish nets, and hemp. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he delivered a report to the emperor about the process of paper manufacture and received much praise for his idea. Consequently, since those days paper has been used in almost every place on earth and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether this accolade is correct, will likely not ever be known! However, the main consideration must be that the discovery was made that if they ground some substances derived from plant matter in to a mache, cut out unwanted substances, float the mache in liquid, screen it out onto cloth sheets and allow it to dry. When fully dried, it compressed into a hard, robust sheet that was particularly light, and providing it was not allowed to come into contact with water, proved exceedingly firm.
This simplest of papermaking techniques is still in use in exactly the same way within Tibet and Nepal, the initial places to learn the techniques from 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 moved around until it has reached a level. It is then left suspended that will let the water to drain out of it and the paste to dry in to a sheet of paper which may be taken off.
Eventually an extremely clever individual came to realize that making a frame with ribs and placing a fine removable bamboo mat across it, would enable the paper-making procedure to be accelerated incredibly. Instead of utilizing one mould for each sheet of parchment, therefore severely restricting the amount of sheets that could be produced at the same time, a stack of sieved mash could be built up a layer at a time, with just a strip of cotton thread between them to help with separation at a later time. The stack would then be pressed very slightly, and every layer of grume transferred to a place to dry.