Chinese is one of the first syllabic and one of the only remaining syllabic languages that exist today.
In-fact, Chinese writing has been dated as far back as 3,500 years ago and many believe that it's history is even longer.

Today, many languages borrow elements of Chinese writing, for instance the Japanese Kanji. However, their languages can largely rely on phonetic systems whilst Chinese characters are unique in their thousands.

Although there were mediums to write on before paper, such as papyrus and parchements, it wasn't until the Han Dynasty that paper was massed produced.

It was Ts'ai Lun under the Han Dyanasty Emperor Ho-Ti who turned paper making methods into a full on paper-making industry.
Ts'ai Lun made his paper by mixing tree bark, hemp and water. Then, its compressed flat until all the water has come out.
Finally, it is left to dry in the sun.

This early paper became very popular all around China, which took these methods and eventually began making books instead of scrolls. Yet, it wasn't another 1000 years until it became prevalent in Europe. The Europeans were still using parchment or paper bought from Egypt until the technology arrived in Italy where it was mass produced and sold all over Europe.

Whilst the rest of the world were still discovering the uses of paper and writing, China already started using paper in other innovative ways, For instance, making card games, kites and fans. China was even the first to start using toilet paper!

Source(1,2,3,4）
http://www.ancientscripts.com/chinese.html
http://quatr.us/literature/paper.htm

事实上汉字在3500前就有记录，很多人甚至认为它们有更长历史。今天很多语言有借鉴汉字，例如日文。他们的文字和汉字有相似之处。汉朝的时候，人们发明了纸，同时有文字的记载，汉朝皇帝不仅发明了纸，还创造了比较发达的造纸业，用树皮，麻头，旧渔网作为材料，混合水，然后把他们压缩，直到水份出来，最后在阳光下晒干。最早的纸非常受欢迎，用这种办法，大家开始大量的制作书，而不在用卷轴。当然在此之后的1000年，造纸术才传到了欧洲，当时的欧洲还在用从印度买来的羊皮纸，直到这门技术到了意大利，制作并在整个欧洲买卖。当世界上其他国家一直在探索纸的用处的时候，中国已经用纸开始了其他发明，例如扑克牌，风筝和风扇。中国甚至是第一个使用卫生纸的国家。