The Beginning of Silk

Silk roughly originated during 2700 BCE. There is no one dynasty that I thought was to have made silk before the rest. Many historians and researchers think that it was discovered by many dynasties around the same time. A very popular legend is that a queen named Leizu (嫘祖), the wife of the Yellow Emperor,  was sitting under a tree. Then a silkworm cocoon fell into her hot tea which made it unravel into strings that would then be weaved together to make a fabric. This fabric was very valuable and cherished in many civilizations which helped the economical state of China.

How Silk is Made

The making of silk is formally called Sericulture. There are multiple steps involved in making silk. The first step is cultivating mulberry plants. In this step the farmers have to have mulberry plants in fertile, well drained climate and a warm climate. This improves the quality of the leaves which in return greatly enhance the quality of the silk.  The second step is the incubation of eggs. In this step the silkworm eggs are kept under controlled humidity and temperature to hatch in larva. The third step is taking care of the silkworms. This step contains feeding and growing the silkworms to enable them to be harvested. The fourth step is harvesting them. The silkworms turn into moths and break the silk fibers. Finally the silk is processed and made into fabric which can be used for many different items.