The land of silk

¶ … Land of Silk [...] discuss thoughts and feelings about the chapter. The chapter tells the story of how silk is made, and some of it is very disturbing.

The chapter starts by describing the difference between unbroken silk and wild silk, and then goes on to describe the life cycle of the silkworm, the insect that creates the silk thread. The chapter then discusses the early history of silkworm culture, and how difficult it must have been in early China to transport the unhatched eggs, and yet nothing is mentioned about these issues in early texts. Then, the text talks about the reeling of the thread and how thread is formed into skeins.

The silk tradition goes back to antiquity in China, and many scholars believe that many arts and crafts in the country go back to Emperor Huangdi, (the Yellow Emperor or the Great Inventor). He invented many things, but it may have been his wife that actually invented silkworm breeding and silk clothing. Leizu, the wife, later became the goddess of the silkworm and a highly important woman in Chinese history. For centuries, the empress took care of the silkworms. There is controversy about where this ancient land was located; some believe it was in Shandong province, while others believe it was in Henan province. Archeologists have found remnants of silk that are at least 4,750 years old.

As the country grew, silkworm breeding and weaving began to develop and become perfected, it became an important commodity for China around the world, and it is still an important export today. Women and girls mostly practiced it, and it was a time consuming process. There were six areas of silk production in ancient China, and it was an important part of Chinese life. The Chinese invented many types of silk fabrics, along with dyeing and embroidery. The Chinese really had no concept of the West, but the emperor built the Great Wall about 200 BC, and the terracotta army was unearthed in 1974, buried to guard his tomb.

This was a very interesting chapter, but it was disturbing, as well. The difference between silk and wild silk is the emergency of the moth from its cocoon. In wild silk, the moth is allowed to emerge, but it breaks the continuous silk thread, so the silk is wild and broken. In silk, the moth is killed in the cocoon before it can emerge, and the fiber remains unbroken. It seems cruel that the cocoon is boiled and the moth is killed that way. Only a certain number of breeding moths are kept alive and allowed to emerge and then lay eggs to continue the process. The process shows why silk is so expensive, because it is a very time consuming process.

I did not know that silk was such an ancient enterprise, and that was very interesting. It made me wonder how people first discovered the process and the actual silk fiber, and then how to weave it into cloth. It would be interesting if there were some history that described how they figured it out. I would like to find that in a Web site or other source, but there does not seem to be information available on that topic. It was also interesting to learn about the vast number of mulberry trees that were necessary to keep the industry running. I did not know that silkworms ate so much, or had to eat so many times during the day. We take silk for granted today, but it is a complicated process, and this chapter made that very clear.

After reading this article, I am not sure that I would buy silk any more. I would buy wild silk or synthetic silk, but I do not think I would buy silk again. I think the process is too cruel, and it opened my eyes to how silk is really made. I had no idea what it entailed, even though I knew it came from some kind of worms. I do not think it is a humane process, and I no longer feel the same way I did about silk because of it.

The history of silk. This is interesting to me, and something I would like to learn more about. Here are three Web sites that talk about the history of silk.