History of Chinese Silk

Silk fabric was invented in China and, for a very long time, China was the only country in the world producing and using silk.

In ancient myth Leizu, the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan's wife, was the first person to keep silkworms and make silk. Leizu nurtured silkworm eggs and gathered the mulberry leaves needed to feed the silkworms personally. Ancient imperial families and ordinary people worshipped her as the "silkworm goddess" or the "earliest reincarnation of silkworms" because she was responsible for founding the silk industry. Today, people in silk production areas still hold a ceremony where women worship and offer sacrifices to Leizu.

Rhapsody on the Silkworm written by Xunzi (c.313-238 BC) in the Warring States Period records the legend of the "horse-head goddess." A girl's father is kidnapped by neighbors, leaving her with only her father's horse. The girl's mother declares that whoever can bring the girl's father back can marry the girl. Upon hearing this, the horse runs away and brings the girl's father back, but the girl's mother forgets her promise. The horse whinnies all day and refuses to drink or eat. When he learns the reason for the horse's behavior, the girl's father becomes very angry and, in the heat of the moment, he kills the horse. He dries the horse's hide in his courtyard and one day the girl passes the wall the horse hide hangs on. The horse hide wraps itself around the girl, flies into a mulberry tree, and becomes a silkworm. This girl was worshipped as the "silk goddess" and her influence reached Southeast Asia and Japan, where there are many temples dedicated to the "horse-head goddess".

Apart from myths, there is more accurate information regarding the origins of silk manufacture. In 1958, silk products from the Liangzhu culture, an important Chinese culture dating from Neolithic times (4,700 years ago) were discovered in Liangzhu Town, Yuhang, Zhejiang. This find included silk threads, silk bands, silk ropes, and plain woven silk sheets packed in baskets. Further examination revealed that these artifacts were silk items made for domestic use. Though these objects were carbonized, vertical and horizontal silk threads could still be seen. One of the silk bands consists of 16 interwoven thick and thin silk threads, with a width of 0.5 millimeters and a depth of 0.3 millimeters. The band is made of three-ply silk, showing that silk knitting techniques had achieved a high degree of skill by this period.

Three thousand years ago, pictographs about silkworms, mulberry trees and silk were inscribed on bones and tortoise shells of the Shang Dynasty (1600 BC-1046 BC). The "silkworm" character is represented by a worm, "mulberry tree" is represented by a tree, and "silk" is represented by two silk threads. Before the emergence of these pictographs, silkworm patterns appeared on pottery. Black pottery unearthed at Meiyan, Wujiang, Jiangsu, in 1959 was made between 3000 BC and 2500 BC. It shows vivid patterns depicting silkworms and demonstrates the familiarity people of this period had with silkworms. In addition, rhombic and fret patterns found on ancient silk packages have been found on a bronze drinking vessel and bronze battle-axe found at Yin Ruins in Anyang, Henan. Traces of silk fabrics show that damasks with rhombic patterns were woven during the Shang Dynasty and that multicolored brocades were woven during the Zhou Dynasty.

There are also written documents that reference silk: The Book of History, compiled by Confucius (551 BC^79 BC), mentions silk, as do other written records that cite colored silk, tussah silk, black silk, white plain woven fabrics, thin silk floss and thin kudzu fibers.

In the Spring and Autumn Period (470 BC-476 BC) and the Warring States Period (475 BC-221 BC), agriculture was more developed than ever before. Men tilled the land and women engaged in weaving, and these became important economic activities of the period. It was common for mulberry trees and hemp plants to be planted and grown and for the crops they produced to be used in weaving. Because silkworm farming methods were already very refined, silk reeled from cocoons was of a high quality, producing thin and even fabrics that were as good as modern-day fabrics. During the Han Dynasty, brocade unearthed from the Western Han tomb of Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan, in 1972 tells us that every yarn consisted of four or five silk threads, and every silk thread consisted of 14 or 15 silk fibers. In other words, every yarn consisted of 54 twisted fibers. This incredibly sophisticated level of silk spinning pushed the development of dyeing and embroidery forward at the same time, making the finished products more beautiful and expressive.

Among the numerous silk fabrics unearthed from the Han tomb of Mawangdui, one white unlined silk garment still has the power to amaze. This garment is 160 centimeters long with sleeves of 195 centimeters, but it weighs only 49 grams. If the weight of the plain woven fabric of the collar and the side pockets is deducted, the remaining white silk is almost as thin as a cicada's wings. Ancient Arabian travel notes record the following story - while paying a formal visit to a Chinese official, an Arabian merchant could not stop gazing at the official's collar. The official felt uncomfortable and asked, "What's wrong with my collar?" The merchant said, "Chinese silk is amazing. I can see the mole on your chest through the silk garment." The official laughed loudly and said, while rolling the sleeves, "I am wearing not one silk garment, but five silk garments." At first reading this story sounds a little exaggerated, but after seeing the white silk garment from the Han tomb of Mawangdui it seems entirely possible.

From the 5th century AD, Chinese textile goods began to spread to the West. Because silk was so beautiful and special, it was said by Westerners to be something that only existed in heaven. Both the Greeks and the Romans called China "Serica", and called Chinese people "Seris". These words derive from "serge", which means "silk". Thin, soft, refined and lustrous Chinese silk conquered the world. Westerners, unaware of the real source of silk, thought that silk hung in Chinese forests and was made into silk threads after being gathered with a comb.

According to records in Western history books, the ancient Roman emperor Caesar (100 BC-44 BC) watched an opera wearing a Chinese silk robe and all the people present stopped watching the opera and instead rushed to view his silk garment. Chinese silk also spread to India. Indian books written in the 4th century BC contain records of "bundles of Chinese silk." After the 2nd century AD, Indian laws contained provisions to punish anyone who stole silk.

There are several different types of Chinese silk fabrics. Common brocades feature color patterns woven with many kinds of dyed silk thread. Damasks usually have oblique patterns. Yarns are light and thin. Silk gauze is looser and thinner than yarn and can even have holes, and features patterns or plain surfaces. Plain woven fabrics were made with raw silk in ancient times. Glittering damask silk can have many lines and patterns. Satin is smooth on the surface, with a dense structure beneath, and can also look shiny. Other types of silk include pure white and fine silk, plain white raw silk, and fabrics made from waste silk.

More than 20 precious silk items were excavated from the No.1 tomb of the Mashan brick factory, Jiangling, Hubei, in 1982. These objects were made during the Warring States Period, which makes them older than the Han tomb of Mawangdui. The items include embroidered unlined garments, embroidered plain woven unlined garments, brocade garments, embroidered plain woven brocade robes, plain woven lined garments, yarn brocade robes and various cloth-wrappers. Among them, one embroidered unlined garment with dragon, phoenix and tiger patterns has even silk gauze holes and a light texture.

Silk not only can be made into clothes and bedclothes, but also can be woven into ropes that follow unique styles, now known as "Chinese knots," that have become a popular aspect of Chinese culture. Silk can also be used to link jade ornaments, which make "jade pendants clank." Another important use of silk is embroidery - the emergence and improvement of silk knitting gave rise to embroidery. Different regions and ethnic groups evolved embroidery techniques with unique characteristics. In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, embroidery techniques became increasingly mature, as can be seen in numerous cultural relics unearthed in the past 100 years. Embroidery of these periods features exaggerated patterns of animals such as dragons, phoenixes and tigers, which can be interspersed with flower, grass or geometric patterns. Jumping tigers, curling and flying dragons, and dancing phoenixes are exquisitely depicted with both spirit and emotion. The layout and structure of these embroidered works display a kind of picturesque disorder within properly arranged, richly colored, and harmoniously contrasted images that have a great sense of rhythm.

By the time of the Western and Eastern Han Dynasty embroidery techniques were highly developed. The capital of the Qi State, Linzi (today's Linzi, Shandong), was home to three official clothes workshops for the Han imperial family, which employed thousands of weavers and attracted significant revenue. With the development of Buddhism, Buddhist embroidery was dominant during the Southern and Northern Dynasties (420-589) and reached a peak in the Tang Dynasty. Buddhist embroidered works were made with exquisite methods, achieved magnificent colors, and is among the most accomplished works of Chinese ancient embroidery art. Another achievement of Tang embroidery was the invention of "running stitch embroidery" - a method still in use today - which enabled embroiderers to stitch more freely, thus ushering in a new era of embroidery development.

During the Song Dynasty (960-1279) China's embroidery industry reached its peak, with an unprecedented number and quality of items produced. The pioneering ornamental embroidery art of the Song period has never been repeated. In the Tang and Song dynasties embroidery became more and more exquisite. In Chinese society women studied needlework and began to sew their wedding gowns when they were teenagers. Embroidery was a practical and essential skill for ordinary women and a means of recreation and artistic expression for women in wealthy families. Works of embroidery were used on a daily basis in a domestic setting, and also for decorative purposes. Some works of Chinese embroidery are as valued as famous paintings.

During the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), the rise of the folk handicraft industry injected unprecedented vitality into embroidery techniques and production. Particular families and individuals became famous for specializing in embroidery and the quality of common practical embroidery improved generally thanks to the use of more refined materials and skills. Embroidery was at its most popular during the Ming and Qing dynasties (1644-1911). During the 200 years of the Qing Dynasty various local embroidery styles emerged in rapid succession. Famous styles include: Jiangsu embroidery, Guangdong embroidery, Sichuan embroidery, Hunan embroidery, Beijing embroidery, and Shandong embroidery. Embroidery also absorbed the influence of foreign, predominantly Western, cultures.

The Uyghur, Yi, Dai, Buyei, Kazakh, Yao, Miao, Tujia, Jingpo, Dong, Bai, Zhuang, Mongolian and Tibetan ethnic groups all have their own embroidery techniques.

Embroidery is not only used for clothing and in homes, but is also a part of the world of Chinese painting and calligraphy. The Tang poet Bai Juyi (772-846) wrote Stitched Damask Silk: "Stitched damask silk does not look like silk gauze, raw silk, pure white and fine silk or damasks, and should look like the forty-five chi waterfall on the Tiantai Mountain under the moon. Its texture is amazing like white smoke on land and clusters of snow-white flowers... woven like wild geese flying above clouds and dyed like spring waters south of Jiangnan... The exotic color and uncommon texture set off each other, and flowers viewed from different angles look different. This is a fitting summary of the qualities and beauty of Chinese silk.