The History of Silk

The history of silk begins, according to the writings of Confucius and Chinese tradition in the 27th century BC when a silk worm's cocoon fell into the tea cup of the Empress Leizu.  Wanting to extract it from her drink, the young girl began to unroll the thread of the cocoon.  She then had the idea to weave it.  Having observed the life of the silk worm on the recommendation of her husband, the Yellow Emperor, she began to instruct her entourage in the art of raising silk worms, sericulture. From this point on, the girl became the goddess of silk in Chinese mythology. 

The Emperor saw the fabric as magical and reserved its wear for his own family and important persons of the court.  As techniques for nurturing the silkwormsimproved, silk became more common.  But the Chinese realized the value of the material and began to trade silk in Persia and Mesopotamia.
 

The silk industry was shrouded in secrecy as the Chinese sought to keep the secret of silk away from the rest of the world.  Demand for the lustrous fabric created a route to China that became known as the "Silk Road". The Chinese guarded the secret of silk production carefully, searching travelers at the border.  Anyone caught smuggling silkworms,  cocoons or eggs was summarily  executed.

Silk would eventually leave China in the hair of a princess promised to a prince of Khotan.  This probably occurred in the early 1st century AD.  The princess, refusing to go without the fabric she loved, would finally break the imperial ban on silk worm exportation.

Toward the middle of the 1st century AD, the Byzantine emperor ordered two christian monks who were traveling to China to smuggle some moth eggs when they returned.  The monks concealed the precious eggs in bamboo walking staffs.  The church established a silk industry as an imperial monopoly.

The use of silk was confined to China until the Silk Road opened at some point during the latter half of the first millennium BC.  China maintained its virtual monopoly over silk for another thousand years.  Not confined to clothing, silk was also used for a number of other applications, including writing, and the colour of silk worn was an important indicator of social class during the Tang Dynasty.

managed to obtain brought silk production to Silk cultivation spread to Japan in around 300 AD, and by 522, the Byzantinessilkworm eggs and were able to begin silkworm cultivation. The Arabs also began to manufacture silk during this same time.  As a result of the spread of sericulture, Chinese silk exports became less important, although they still maintained dominance over the luxury silk market.  The crusadesWestern Europe, in particular to many Italian states, which saw an economic boom exporting silk to the rest of Europe.  Changes in manufacturing techniques also began to take place during the Middle Ages, with devices such as the spinning wheel first appearing.  During the 16th century, France joined Italy in developing a successful silk trade, though the efforts of most other nations to develop a silk industry of their own were unsuccessful.
 

The Industrial Revolution changed much of Europe’s silk industry.  Due to innovations in spinning cotton, it became much cheaper to manufacture and therefore caused more expensive silk production to become less mainstream. New weaving technologies, however, increased the efficiency of production. Among these was the Jacquard loom, a precursor to modern computers, developed for silk embroidery.  An epidemic of several silkworm diseases caused production to fall, especially in France, where the industry never recovered.  In the 20th century, Japan and China regained their earlier role in silk production, and China is now once again the world’s largest producer of silk.  The rise of new fabrics such as nylon reduced the prevalence of silk throughout the world, and silk is now once again a somewhat rare luxury good.