The History of Silk

Let's face it, the silk has a lot of notoriety. The mere mention of silk creates "Oooh" and "Ahhs, not only because it is softer, lighter and more breathable, natural fabric on the market. The status of silk is well deserved, and thousands of years to represent the wealth and power. Silk is the focus of countless myths and legends and actual history, including lending his name to the largest land exchange in human history, the Silk Road that linked the Far East with Europe hundreds of years.

The exact date of silk spread is unknown, but according to archaeological evidence, certainly was well established by 3000 BC. According to legend, around 2600 BC, The Yellow Emperor's wife, Lady Hsi-Ling-Shih, has discovered the mystery of a silk cocoon fell into her cup of tea and silk thread to unravel. It 'also traditionally credited with developing techniques to raise silkworms and harvesting, and the chassis and was even deified as Seine-Than, or "The Goddess of Silkworms. If this is historically accurate, puts highlight two important points in time that silk was already well integrated in Chinese culture, and was so popular that the empress goddess associated with it. In those early days, the silk was only available to Chinese royalty and their courts.

Silk production is a process that requires attention to detail, and as such it was difficult to increase the value of silk. Over the centuries, and techniques for improving the production and expanded, silk slowly made its way into society increasingly levels of Chinese government. It was still very popular, but, and was also used as a form of gold coin to pay taxes and other silk with the length to determine its value.

Foreign trade grew silk Chinese regimes have recognized their unique knowledge of silk production, and created serious (capital) punishment for anyone to unlock the secrets of sericulture outside. The monopoly of the Chinese silk market has lasted for a long time, which increases the intrinsic value of this simple material in foreign markets. For example, a silk robe could cost more than a Roman soldier, while his annual salary.

Ultimately, of course, the secret of the silkworms found their way out of China, Korea and Japan first, then slowly west across India and the Middle East and finally Europe. There are a lot of interesting stories about how the secret is out. It is believed that a Chinese princess smuggled cocoons with her when she married a foreign prince. Another felt that the Byzantine monks hid in cocoons of their staff off at the request of Emperor Justinian. The Silk Road, as an established route for trade between Europe, Middle East and Far East, had created such a demand for the material at the end, actually helped the revelation of the secrets of production abroad.

Over the centuries, other countries are now producing world class silk, but China has resumed its historical place and is now responsible for about half of silk in the world.