The history of true paper began in what is now the People's Republic of China. Like the Egyptians, the Chinese had, nearly 5000 years ago, invented a type of pictographic writing. The Egyptians also had been utilizing many different objects to write on, usually pieces of bamboo and silk woven into a fine fabric and it is possible that the barkcloth they used for other reasons from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of as well.
Legend points to the fact that in 105 years after the birth of Christ a government worker named Tsai Lung, developed papyrus, although it appears from archaeological finds that in fact it was being worked with in South East Asia for at least two centuries before him.
Back in olden times writing was mainly done on some derivative of bamboo or occasionally on lengths of silk, which were known as Ji in those days. But the soaring cost of silk and bamboo being weighty, these two materials were not of great use. Due to this Tsai Lun thought of making use of bark from trees, rags, hemp, and fish nets. In 105AD he submitted a report to the emperor regarding the process of paper manufacture and was endowed with high accolade for his thoughts. Since those days paper has been utilized all over the world and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed this particular claim is Marquis Tsai's entitlement or not, will very likely never be known! Nevertheless the major consideration must be that it was found that they could grind particular plant derived substances in to a paste, displace impure materials, put the paste in liquid, filter it out onto cloth sheets and allow it to dry. When fully dried, it calcified into a firm, firm sheet that turned out to be very light, and provided that it did not come into contact with water, turned out to be really resilient.
This most straightforward of paper making technologies is still being used in exactly the same way in and around Nepal and Tibet, the initial countries to pick up the technolgies from China. A simple frame utilizes a type of cotton cloth stretched over one side, diluted pulp is situated into the far end and moved around until it is smooth. It is then left suspended that will allow the water to drain out of it and the grume to dry into a sheet of parchment which may be removed by stripping off.
Eventually a clever developer came to realize that constructing a frame with ribs and putting a fine bamboo mat that is replaceable across it, would let the process to be accelerated enormously. Rather than using a single mold for every paper sheet, therefore severely restricting the number of sheets that could be manufactured at one time, a stack of sieved mash could be built up layer upon layer, with just a piece of cotton thread between them which would enable separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed very gently, and each sheet of mache shifted to a dry board.