The Secret Beginnings of Silk in China

Like a whisper, sleek and sensual, a touch of this shimmering fabric brings to mind images of luxury and exotic orient.  Of all the many fabrics, it is the most coveted and admired.  “Silk does to the body what diamonds do for the hand,” says fashion designer Oscar de la Renta.

The story of silk began in China, where the silkworm and the white mulberry plant, which is its only food, naturally coexist.  Little is known about when and how silkworms were first domesticated and their silk used.  Legend credits the Empress His Ling-Shi with starting silk production in around 2640 B.C. It is said that a silk cocoon accidentally fell into her cup of tea one day while she was strolling in her garden.  To her amazement, when she went to pull it out, it unraveled into a delicate silken thread.  The empress soon worked out a way to unwind the thread from the cocoon and spin it; she also realized that the moths fed exclusively on the leaves of mulberry trees, which she had planted in orchards.  Soon the empress’ enthusiasm for the natural fiber rubbed off on her husband, the Emperor Huang-ti, who insisted that his robes be made of silk.  Naturally the rest of the court felt obliged to follow imperial fashion, and the silk trend was firmly set.

Whether the story is true or not, the oldest known silks in China can be seen in the Summer Palace Museum in the city of Hangzhou—the embroideries and threads are believed to be 4,500 years old.  Gowns, quilts, and shrouds made from silk of similar age have also been unearthed in numerous Chinese tombs, indicating that silk production must already have been advanced at this time.  Later silk was widely produced in several Chinese provinces, where a section of every farm or garden was set aside for mulberry cultivation.  Silk was sometimes accepted by the government in lieu of taxes.  From the first century onwards, silk, as well as other natural products, was also used by the Chinese for making paper and for silk printing.

By the time of the late Chou and Western Han Dynasties in the second century A.D., China was famous for its silk.  In ancient Egypt and Rome, China was known as Serica (the Land of Silk), from which name is derived the English term “sericulture” to refer to silk farming.  Few outsiders understood the process of sericulture; however, educated Romans such as Pliny, for example, speculated that silk was the “hair of a seas-sheep.”  Chinese law condemned any who revealed the secrets of silk to death by torture, thus maintaining China’s monopoly over the product for nearly 3,000 years.

Inevitably the mysteries of sericulture were gradually revealed.  In about 140 B.C., a Chinese princess was said to have hid some silkworms in her dress before traveling to India to be married, bringing knowledge of how to manufacture the fabric with her.  In around 300 A.D., the Japanese also appear to have acquired a knowledge of silkworm-rearing and silk-weaving.  “Kimono” is derived from the Japanese word “ki,” meaning silk; to this day, the best kimonos are made from the fabric.  Japanese samurai also used silk to fasten together the metal plates of their armor.  Nevertheless, the imperial city of Peking remained the undisputed silk capital of the world for many more centuries.