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The History of Silk

The History of Silk

According to Chinese legend, silk was first discovered in 2640 BC by Xilingji (Hsi-ling-chi), the 14-year-old wife of China\'s third emperor, Huangdi (Huang-Ti). One day, as she was making tea in the palace garden, Xilingji accidentally dropped a silkworm cocoon into a cup of hot water and discovered that the silk fiber could be loosened and unwound. By twisting together fibers from several cocoons, she made a thread that was strong enough to be woven into cloth.

No one is certain how much of this delightful story is true, but the practice of sericulture (rearing silkworms for the production of raw silk) is certainly older than recorded history. For centuries, sericulture or silk production was a well kept secret from the West.

Initially, silk was worn exclusively by the ruler. Only the emperor, his closest relations and the highest of dignitaries were allowed to wear this prized cloth.

Within the palace, it is understood that the emperor would wear robes of white silk and when he and his wife ventured outdoors, they would both wear yellow silk, which signified the color of the earth.

Over time, as more and more people began to wear silk, it became of some value and was even a commodity. Farmers would pay their taxes with it and civil servants would get it as part of their pay packet.

For a while, Persia became China's trading partner, buying silk and reselling it to the Europeans at exorbitant prices. By the time the Han dynasty finally authorized direct trade with Europe (around 140 BC), there was an eager market for the fabric throughout most of the Roman Empire. Despite constant danger from thieves, the Silk Road, a perilous overland trade route through Asia Minor, came to be a major cultural link between the two continents.

The silk trade made China a wealthy and powerful country. But according to legend, the Roman Emperor Justinian balked at paying China\'s high prices for silk. Around 550 AD, he recruited two Persian monks and sent them into China as spies to learn the secrets of silk production. Two years later, the monks returned to Constantinople (now Istanbul) with silkworm eggs and mulberry seeds concealed within their hollow bamboo canes. The Turks quickly established their own silk industry and broke China's monopoly.

The techniques of sericulture spread throughout the Mediterranean countries during the 7th century AD and then into Spain and Sicily following the Saracen invasion. By the 12th century, Italy had become the silk capital of the West, and later, the French government spawned its own industry by subsidizing farmers who planted mulberry orchards. For a short time, sericulture even spread to England and the American colonies. In 1810, a silk mill was built in Mansfield, Connecticut.

But during the twentieth century, the high cost of western labor, a shortage of mulberry leaves, world wars, and two silkworm diseases (pebrine and flacherie) have conspired to reduce the size and scope of western sericulture. Today, most commercial silk production is confined to China and Japan where it remains largely a cottage industry. India is still a major producer of "wild" (Tussah) silk.