The debate about when the silk production process was started continues to this day. However, the findings of archaeologists in China could, in fact, put an end to this issue - fragments of tissue discovered in 1958 in Shandong province, in eastern China, are the oldest silk products that have come down to us in the world. Now silk is called the “king of fabrics” and is made in many varieties, and the most valuable and expensive is natural material, is inextricably linked with the history and culture of the Celestial Empire.
The legend of the emperor’s wife
Silk production in China has more than 6 thousand years. The history of this magnificent fabric is covered in legends. According to one of them, the wife of the Yellow Emperor Huangdi was sitting under the mulberry tree and drinking tea when a white ball fell into her cup - a cocoon. The woman loved to contemplate various phenomena and saw a strong white thread appear from a fluffy ball. Having wound the thread on the finger, the emperor’s wife realized that such fibers can be used to create fabric. By her order, silkworms were specially grown.
Later, a primitive loom was invented in China, after which silk production in ancient China during the Shang Dynasty in the 16th century BC e. reached the highest level.
Under pain of the death penalty: the secret of the production of Chinese weavers
Chinese craftsmen kept their art in deep secrecy for more than a thousand years. The secret of silk production in the ancient world was classified very strictly - in the history of mankind it was one of the most protected “business secrets”. The ban on the export of silkworm larvae, cocoons, and mulberry seeds acted under pain of death.
Although in those ancient times only emperors had the right to dress in silk dresses and know, the culture of silkworming and silkworming quickly spread throughout the Middle Kingdom, both the middle class and the poor bought material.
Graceful canvases and outfits were famous for their excellent quality and delicate work. But neither prohibitions nor executions could stop the progress of silk to other countries.
The Great Silk Road
Silk products have become an important component of the foreign trade of the Chinese Empire. Valuable fabric was brought to Europe thanks to the Silk Road. Goods were transported through the mountains and deserts, on camels and mules, and no barriers could be stopped by heavily loaded caravans - a valuable cargo promised considerable profit.
The Great Silk Road ran through Asia and Europe, linking the life and life of various peoples. It began in the valley of the Yellow River, passed through the western part of the Great Wall of China to Lake Issyk-Kul. Further, the path branched north and south: to the south the road led to Ferghana, Samarkand, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the Mediterranean Sea, and the north diverged into two sections - one went to Central Asia, and the second downstream of the Syr Darya River to West Kazakhstan and, rounding the northeast of the Black Sea, to Europe. The total length of the Great Silk Road was more than 7 thousand kilometers.
So silk production appeared in Korea, then in Japan, India, and, finally, in European countries and the Roman Empire. For centuries, the Silk Road has been the true idea of ​​global trade in action. The Silk Road trade routes have been created for thousands of years. “One belt, one road” - this idea is still modern: in the 21st century, China’s policy to revive the Silk Road with investments in roads, high-speed rails and ports is being revived, which ensures the efficiency of production bases in a wide regional belt.
You can learn about the Great Silk Road at the world's largest silk museum in Hangzhou. A huge number of unique products and fragments of ancient paintings of various dynasties and eras are stored here.
Features of the production of natural silk
Although silk production in ancient China was strictly classified, according to legend, the Roman monks managed to secretly export silkworm cocoons to the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople. Since then, in the imperial palace, a worm water was built (a room for breeding silkworm caterpillars ) and winding machines were installed. Products had a fabulous price - and this is due to the complexity and multi-stage process of obtaining threads and then finished fabric.
Breeding silkworms and the production of natural silk requires great attention, painstaking work and careful monitoring.
The main stages of production
If you describe the silk production briefly, you get the following process. Silkworm butterflies during their life, which lasts from 4 to 6 days, lay about 500 eggs. The larvae are fed with mulberry leaves, they have a huge appetite, their weight is rapidly increasing. Grown caterpillar larvae surround themselves with a substance that is produced by their special glands. At first, two thin mulberries stand out, hardening in the air. Soon, a dense filament network forms around the caterpillar. Having built the cocoon frame, the caterpillar moves to its center, gradually forming a cocoon - a white fluffy ball.
After 8-9 days, the larvae are destroyed, and the cocoons are lowered into hot water to get filaments. Their length can be from 400 to 1000 meters and a thickness of 10-12 microns. A few twisted silkworms are raw. Next, the resulting strands are turned into fabric. The complexity of obtaining tissue is significant: about 630 cocoons go to a woman’s dressing gown.
Further development of Chinese technology
The resulting thread had to be wound on a spool. The first silk wheels were invented during the Ming Dynasty. In the XVIII century, in Jiangsu Province, craftsmen made machine tools in which the wheel was driven by legs, which increased labor productivity.
Then a machine was created for the manufacture of multicolor coarse cloth, which served as a further development of the technology. Chinese silk craft was much more perfect than European - the first machine, weaving silk ribbons, appeared in Germany only in the 16th century. Demand for silk fabrics grew both within the Middle Kingdom and around the world. The mechanization of silk production was further improved - the history of this fabric is intertwined with the achievements of weaving engineering.
Silk spinning and weaving: history and modernity
During the period of industrialization of the XIX century, there was a decline in European silk industry. Second after China, the "silk empire" was Japan. Cheap Japanese silk, especially thanks to the opening of the Suez Canal, was one of many factors in reducing its overall cost. In addition, the emergence of artificial fibers has become dominant in the manufacture of products such as stockings and parachutes.
Two world wars interrupted the supply of raw materials from Japan, and the European silk industry was stagnant. But in the early 1950s, silk production in Japan was restored, and the quality of the raw material improved. Japan, along with China, remained one of the world's leading producers of raw silk and almost the only major exporter until the 1970s.
China has gradually rethought its position as a world leader in silk production and an exporter of raw yarn, proving that the history of silk follows its own boomerang principles. Today, around 125 thousand tons of silk are produced in the world. Almost two-thirds of these products are supplied by China. Other major manufacturers are India, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, and Brazil. The United States is the largest importer of silk products.
Properties of natural fabric
Items made of natural silk should be shiny and delicate, and their color should be uniform. It is best to buy silk in China - in Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai: enterprising businessmen arrange silk tours to this country around the world.
When buying products from natural silk, you should consider:
- silk products require hand washing;
- stains on silk products need to be quickly washed in cold water with mild detergents;
- after washing, a thorough rinse of the product and delicate drying are necessary;
- it is necessary to iron clothes from silk at low temperature (it is marked on irons specially);
- refined products or having a multi-color print are better to be dry cleaned;
- It is best to store products in a case (but not plastic) and away from direct sunlight.
Observance of these simple tips will help to preserve bright elegant products and wardrobe items donated by nature itself for a long time.
Rayon: features and differences
At the end of the XIX century, artificial silk first appeared, its production was established from cellulose fiber. The fabric is called viscose .
Artificial and synthetic types of silk fabrics have a unique sheen, they are smooth and durable. How to distinguish artificial fabric from natural? After all, often on the market you can buy a fake at a high price.
Here are some tips on what to look for when choosing a fabric:
- natural material is soft and warm to the touch, unlike artificial, cool and less soft;
- the natural fabric creases a little, the artificial creases more;
- natural fabrics shine and shimmer slightly, artificial ones have a sharp shine;
- the dangling end of an artificial thread looks like a brush with fluffy fibers, and a natural one - like a bundle of individual mini-fibers;
- wet artificial silk thread breaks easier than dry;
- the method of burning the thread can not always be applied, but it is the most reliable: the natural thread sinter into a tight lump, quickly go out and smell like burnt hair, and the artificial burns to the end, giving off the smell of burnt synthetics;
- artificial canvases do not shrink, unlike natural ones;
- artificial silk practically does not fade in the sun, and natural fabrics lose their color and fade over time.
Silk can be called a unique product that has come down to us from antiquity, without losing its beauty and relevance. Fashion houses around the world - Dolce and Gabbana, Valentino and others create collections based on natural silk, delighting sophisticated connoisseurs of true beauty with new facets of the quality of this material - a gift of nature to the human master.