The history of genuine paper happened in China. Like the indigenous people of Egypt, the Chinese had, virtually 5000 years ago, created a type of pictographic writing. The Egyptians too had been using various kinds of things to write on, notably pieces of bamboo and processed silk and possibly the barkcloth they used for other purposes from the Paper. Mulberry was made use of too.
Legend leads us to believe that in 105 years after the birth of Christ an official by the name of Tsai Lung, invented usable paper, though it seems from archaeological finds that it was in fact being used in South East Asia for more than likely two centuries before him.
Way back in olden times setting down words was generally done on some derivative of bamboo or sometimes on lengths of silk, which were then called ji. Nonetheless the soaring cost of silk and bamboo being too heavy, these materials were not of great use. About this time Tsai Lun thought of utilizing the bark from trees, fish nets, rags, and hemp. In 105AD he made a report to the emperor regarding the process of paper making and received high accolade for his ability. From this time paper has been availed of globally and is called the "paper of Marquis Tsai".
Whether this accolade is Marquis Tsai's entitlement or not, will probably never be known! But the most important thing has to be that the discovery was made that if they ground some substances taken from plants into a mash, oust impurities, place the mash in water, filter it out onto textile sheets allowing it to dry. After the drying process was complete, it conglomerated into a hard, firm sheet that turned out to be really light, and as long as it was not allowed to get damp or wet, turned out to be incredibly tough.
It's a fact that this extremely simple of papermaking technologies is still in use in exactly a similar way in Nepal and Tibet, the first places to learn the techniques from what is now the People's Republic of China. A simple frame utilises a cotton cloth made to stretch over a side, diluted paste is poured in to the other end and moved around until it has become even. After which it is suspended so that it will enable the liquid to drain and the mush to dry in to a parchment sheet which may be peeled off.
It eventually came to pass that a very talented individual came to realize that manufacturing a frame with ribs and placing a fine replaceable bamboo mat over it, would allow the procedure to be quickened enormously. Rather than utilizing one mould for each sheet of paper, therefore severely restricting the amount of sheets that could be manufactured at the same time, a stack of sieved pulp was able to be built up a layer at a time, with only a strip of cotton thread between them which would enable separation at a later time. The stack would then be squeezed very slightly, and every sheet of grume shifted to a place to dry.