The story of proper paper started in China. Like the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, almost five thousand years ago, brought out a kind of writing that used pictures. They also had been making use of various types of objects to write on, usually lengths of bamboo and processed silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they utilized for other unconnected purposes from the Paper. Mulberry was used also.
Legend points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ a government worker named Tsai Lung, developed paper, though it appears from archaeological discoveries that in fact it was being used in what is now the People's Republic of China for probably two centuries prior to him.
Way back in ancient times gone by writing was mainly done on some derivative of bamboo or sometimes on pieces of silk, which were called Ji in those days. But the soaring cost of silk and bamboo being heavy, these materials were inconvenient. About this time Tsai Lun came up with the idea of using tree bark, fish nets, rags, and hemp. In 105AD he made a report to the emperor regarding the process of paper manufacture and got high praise for his inventions. Consequently, from those distant times paper has been used universally and is known as the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If this title is Tsai's entitlement, will very likely never be known! Nonetheless what is important is that they found that if they ground particular substances derived from plants into a grume, take away unwanted materials, float the grume in liquid, sieve it out onto fabric sheets giving it time to dry. When fully dried, it conglomerated into a firm, tenacious sheet that was remarkably light, and provided that it did not get wet, proved exceedingly tough.
It's a fact that this simple of paper making techniques is still in use in exactly a similar way around Nepal and Tibet, the first areas to pick up the craft from South East Asia. A basic frame has a cloth manufactured from cotton stretched over one side, thin mache is situated in to the opposite end and moved around until it has reached a level. It is then left hanging so that it will allow the water to drain out of it and the mush to dry into a parchment sheet which will be able to be removed.
As time passed an extremely talented developer came to the conclusion that manufacturing a frame with an arrangement of ribbing and placing a delicate bamboo mat that is removable over this, would enable the process to be speeded up greatly. Rather than using a single mould for each sheet of parchment, therefore severely restricting the amount of sheets that could be manufactured at one time, a stack of sieved mash was able to be built up a layer at a time, with only a length of cotton thread between them in order to facilitate separation at a later time. The stack would then be pressed very gently, and every sheet of paste moved to a place to dry.