The origins of genuine paper started in China. Like the Egyptians, the Chinese had, virtually fifty centuries in the past, invented a type of pictographic writing. The Egyptians also had been utilizing various kinds of things to write upon, most commonly strips of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and it is possible that the barkcloth they were using for other uses from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of too.
Legend points to the fact that in 105AD a government worker called Tsai Lung, developed paper, although it appears from finds by archaeologists that in fact it was in existence in South East Asia for at least two hundred years before Tsai Lung.
Way back in olden times setting down words was usually on bamboo or on lengths of silk, which were called Ji in those days. But the great price of silk and bamboo being very heavy, these two materials were not convenient. Around then Tsai Lun came up with the idea of making use of bark from trees, hemp, fish nets, and rags. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he put an idea to the emperor with regard to the process of paper making and received many accolades for his creativity. Since those distant days paper has been utilized everywhere and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed this historical reference is deserved or not, will very likely never be uncovered! However, the major consideration has to be that the discovery was made that they could grind some substances derived from plant matter into a mache, eliminate spume, put the mache in liquid, sieve it onto textile sheets and allow it to dry. After drying, it consolidated into a hard, robust sheet that was extremely light, and provided that it did not get damp, turned out to be remarkably tough.
This most simple of papermaking techniques is even now practised in exactly the same way around Nepal and Tibet, the initial countries to take the technolgies from what is now the People's Republic of China. A basic frame utilises a cloth manufactured from cotton pulled and held over a single side, very watery mush is poured in to the far end and spread around until it has reached a level. It is then suspended so that it will let the water to drain and the paste to dry into a parchment sheet which may be taken off.
At some stage a very clever individual figured that constructing a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and placing a delicate replaceable bamboo mat over this, would allow the procedure to be speeded up to a much greater degree. Rather than tying up one mould for each sheet of parchment, therefore severely restricting the number of sheets that are able to be produced at the same time, a stack of sieved grume was able to be built up a layer at a time, with just a piece of cotton thread between them which would facilitate separation at a later time. The stack would then be pressed slightly, and every layer of pulp transferred to a dry place.