I was surprised to find out that paper was invented in China.
Really? That's surprising. They did invent gun power too. When was that?
I think it may have been about 1000 years ago. 
Didn't England have parchment? Does that count as paper?
Parchment
Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins of young animals such as lambs and young calves.
It may be called animal membrane by libraries and museums that wish to avoid distinguishing between "parchment" and the more-restricted term vellum (see below).
Parchment and vellum.
Today the term "parchment
creating is embedded with many of the concerns that I have. [...] I'm trying to say I’ve invented this world that I think is really cool and I have these really big stories to tell in it and one of the ways that I find to make that interesting is to think about it politically. If you want to do that too, that's fantastic. But if not, isn't this a cool monster?
Politics.
Miéville has previously been a member of the International Socialist Organization (