The story of real paper happened in China. Like the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, nearly 5000 years ago, invented a style of pictographic writing. They also had been making use of various things to write upon, most notably pieces of bamboo and woven silk and it is possible that the barkcloth they used for other reasons derived out of the Paper. Mulberry was made use of also.
Legend points to the fact that in 105AD a government worker going by the name of Tsai Lung, brought out paper, although it is almost certain from archaeological discoveries that actually it was in existence in what is now the People's Republic of China for probably two centuries before Tsai Lung.
In ancient times gone by scribing was mainly on some form of bamboo or sometimes on lengths of silk, which were then called ji. Nonetheless the great price of silk and bamboo being heavy, these two materials were not of great use. Due to these factors Tsai Lun thought of utilizing bark from trees, rags, hemp, and fish nets. In 105 years after the birth of Christ he delivered a report to the emperor regarding the process of paper making and received much praise for his ability. Consequently, since those distant days paper has been availed of globally and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
If indeed the above title is correct or not, will very likely not ever be known! However, the major factor is that it was discovered that they could pound certain plant-derived substances into a mush, eliminate unwanted substances, place the mush in water, filter it out onto textile sheets allowing it to dry. After drying, it compressed into a firm, tough sheet that was very light, and providing it did not get damp, turned out to be incredibly durable.
This most straightforward of paper making techniques is still practised in exactly a similar way in and around Nepal and Tibet, the first places to learn the craft from South East Asia. A simple frame utilises a kind of cotton cloth pulled and held over a single side, very watery paste is situated in to the far end and spread around until it has reached a level. Then it is suspended somewhere to allow the liquid to drain out of it and the pulp to dry into a sheet of parchment which may be taken off.
Eventually an extremely clever individual worked out that making a frame with ribbing and putting a fine replaceable bamboo mat over it, would let the procedure to be accelerated enormously. Instead of tying up a single mold for each parchment sheet, therefore severely limiting the number of sheets that are able to be produced at the same time, a stack of sieved mash was able to be built up a layer at a time, with merely a piece of cotton thread between them to help with separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed very lightly, and every sheet of grume shifted to a dry place.