About 2,000 years ago, inventors in China took communication to the next level, crafting cloth sheets to record their drawings and writings. And paper, as we know it today, was born. Paper was first made in Lei-Yang, China by Ts'ai Lun, a Chinese court official. In all likelihood, Ts'ai mixed mulberry bark, hemp, and rags with water, mashed it into pulp, pressed out the liquid and hung the thin mat to dry in the sun.

Source: American Forest and Paper Association