CATDOLL : CATDOLL: What is the period of silkworm rearing and silk reeling?

1. What is the order in which silk, linen, and cotton appeared? In which dynasties did they appear? When was each material used by ordinary people to make clothes?

Linen.Silk.Cotton

In the legendary Yellow Emperor period, silkworm breeding, silk reeling and silk weaving began. Initially, people may have known about this insect only to eat the pupae in the cocoon to satisfy their hunger. Later, they found that the outer shell of the cocoon could be pulled out into very long fibers while chewing with their mouths. The fabrics made of it were more noble, softer and more comfortable than hemp and kudzu fabrics. Therefore, it is said that Leizu, the first wife of the Yellow Emperor, led the people to breed silkworms, reel silk and weave silk, starting a major invention in the history of human civilization: silk. Archaeological excavations have proved that the earliest silk fabrics discovered so far are more than 7,000 years old. This basically coincides with the legendary Yellow Emperor and Leizu period.

After that, during the legendary Yao, Shun and Yu periods, clothing began to have extended meanings such as beauty, decoration, and hierarchy. In the long slave and feudal society that followed, silk was expensive and only people with status and identity could wear it. Ordinary people could only wear linen clothes, which were called "cloth clothes". The color and grade regulations of clothing were also very strict. For example, yellow was reserved for the emperor, and violating the ban would lead to the disaster of committing crimes and being killed.

Cotton was introduced to my country from India very late. Since cotton is easier to grow than hemp, has a higher yield, is easier to process, and the clothes made from it are more comfortable than hemp, it developed rapidly, forming four major families of fiber materials: cotton, wool, silk, and hemp. People continued to use these four textile fibers as clothing materials until modern times.

2. When did sericulture and silk reeling technology first appear?

The earliest record of Cancong's silkworm breeding appeared in the "Book of Kings of Shu" written by Yang Xiong in the Western Han Dynasty. The book mentioned:

"The founder of Shu was named Cancong, who taught the people how to raise silkworms."

The earliest record about "Leizu was the first to breed silkworms" appeared in the Tang Dynasty history book "Book of Sui•Records of Rites". The book stated that the Northern Zhou Dynasty called Leizu "the first silkworm", which means the god of the first silkworm!

3. The whole process of silk reeling?

The process of extracting silk from silk cocoons is generally called silk reeling. The original method of reeling silk is to soak the cocoons in hot water, reel out the silk by hand, and wind it on a silk basket. The basin and basket are the original reeling utensils. The Han working people invented the technology of raising silkworms, reeling silk, weaving silk and embroidery.

The invention in this area should be attributed to the women of the Han nationality.

Legend has it that Leizu, the wife of Huangdi and daughter of Xiling clan, taught people to raise silkworms and process silk cocoons to make clothes. Spinning wheels used for spinning silk and hemp have been unearthed in the Yangshao culture sites dating back about 7,000 to 5,000 years ago.

The spinning wheel was invented in the Han Dynasty. It was first used for reeling silk and then for spinning cotton. It was introduced to Europe in the 13th century. The silk reeling process includes the reeling and sorting of cooked cocoons, the gathering of cocoon silk, the sheathing, the reeling, the adding and joining of cocoon silk when part of the cocoon is reeled or broken, and the winding and drying of raw silk.

4. When did Chinese silkworms spread to Rome?

Chinese silkworms were introduced to Rome around the 6th century.

The oldest silk with scientific evidence is a batch of silk threads, ribbons and silk pieces unearthed in the southern suburbs of Huzhou in 1958. After identification, these silk fabrics have a history of more than 4,700 years and are products of the early Liangzhu culture. They are the oldest silk in the world, even earlier than the Yellow Emperor legend of more than 2,550 BC. Later, China's silkworm breeding and silk reeling technology spread to Central Asia and West Asia around the 4th century, and to Eastern Rome around the 6th century.

5. Where was the earliest technology of sericulture and silk weaving invented in ancient China?

Legend of the Silkworm God

In ancient times, humans did not know how to raise silkworms and spin silk, and were used to weaving hemp cloth for clothing. It is said that after the Yellow Emperor defeated Chiyou, people from all over the country presented various treasures to celebrate. Among them, a "silkworm god" came from the European Silk Field and presented spun silk threads. People began to use silk threads for weaving, and thus, silk appeared.

Who is this silkworm god?

It is said that in ancient times, a man went on a long journey and did not come back for a long time. His daughter missed him very much. One day, she half-jokingly said to a white horse at home: "Horse, horse, if you can go and find my father, I will marry you."

The white horse understood human nature, and upon hearing this, it immediately broke free from the reins and ran away. A few days later, it really brought its owner home. The father and daughter were surprised and happy to meet each other, but the meritorious white horse stopped eating and drinking from then on, and became thinner day by day.

The father was very curious and asked his daughter about the family situation. The daughter told him about her promise to the white horse. The father was very angry and killed the white horse and peeled off the skin to hang in the yard. One time, the daughter was playing in the yard with her friends. Suddenly, the white horse skin jumped up as if alive, wrapped her body, and ran out quickly. The father was very anxious and looked everywhere. After several days, he found his daughter wrapped in horse skin on a big tree. But at this time, his daughter had become one with the horse skin and turned into a silkworm. From then on, that kind of tree was also called "mulberry", which is a homonym of "sorrow".

The ancients probably had the above associations because they saw that the silkworms were white and their heads looked like horses. Therefore, the silkworm god was also called the "horse-headed god" or "horse-headed goddess".

Leizu's silkworm breeding

However, there is another theory that the silkworm god is actually Huangdi's wife Leizu. Leizu, also known as "Leizu" or "Leizu", is the daughter of Xiling clan. According to legend, she was the first to discover that silkworms can produce silk, and this silk can be used to spin and weave cloth. Clothes made of it are light and smooth. It is very likely that she came to Huangdi on behalf of Xiling clan to present silk. Huangdi saw that this girl was beautiful and capable, so he married her as his wife.

Leizu was the first to raise silkworms and weave cloth, and people followed suit. From then on, picking mulberry leaves, raising silkworms, spinning silk and weaving cloth became the professions of ancient women, and gradually the tradition of men farming and women weaving was formed.

A long time ago, people called the two stars on both sides of the Milky Way "Vega" and "Altair", saying that they were a loving couple. Later, it gradually evolved into the folk story of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl meeting on the Magpie Bridge. From this we can also know that the Chinese people had mastered the technology of weaving silk very early.

Expensive silk

After Leizu invented the sericulture technology, as Huangdi's wife, she also created many etiquette norms, such as respecting the elderly, caring for children, and loving each other between husband and wife, etc., so that people throughout the land of China not only dressed appropriately, but also were courteous to each other, and the society was stable and peaceful.

However, that is just an ancient legend. In fact, not only ordinary people could not afford to wear silk clothes, but even for princes and nobles, silk clothes were a rare luxury for a long time. Linen fabrics still occupied an absolute large proportion in social life.

Legend has it that Huangdi's minister Boyu was the first to use silk to make clothing. Based on this, Huangdi designed the crown, which was the formal dress for emperors and nobles. At that time, emperors and nobles probably only wore formal dresses made of silk during sacrifices.

6. When did weaving begin in ancient times?

In primitive society, Leizu reeled silk and raised silkworms, which pioneered the textile industry. But this is just a legend, without any definite basis. This is the history of cotton textile industry.

Documents and unearthed cotton textiles prove that the people of all ethnic groups in China's border areas planted and used cotton much earlier than those in the Central Plains. In ancient times, due to inconvenient transportation, the dominance of natural economy, and underdeveloped commodity production, the spread of cotton planting and cotton textile technology that had long been developed in border areas to the Central Plains took a long time. Until the Han Dynasty, cotton textiles in the Central Plains were still relatively rare and precious. In the Song Dynasty, exchanges between border areas and inland areas were frequent, and a large number of cotton textiles were imported into the Central Plains. Cotton and cotton cloth became popular in the inland areas, and cotton planting and cotton textile technology were gradually introduced.

In 1979, a piece of blue-gray cotton cloth dating back more than 3,200 years was discovered in a boat coffin in a rock tomb in Wuyi Mountain, Chong'an, Fujian.

7. Which country in the world was the first to raise silkworms, reel silk and weave silk?

China is the first country in the world to domesticate silkworms and reel and weave silk. As one of the important origins of Chinese civilization, the origin of silk has always been a topic of concern for researchers.

According to ancient legends, it was Huangdi's wife Leizu who invented sericulture. Historical records state that "Leizu, the daughter of Xiling clan, was Huangdi's first wife. She processed silk cocoons to make clothes and was worshipped as the first silkworm in later generations." The Luo fabric unearthed in Qingtai Village, Xingyang, Henan Province is the earliest silk fabric found in the Yellow River Basin, dating back 5,300 to 5,500 years. The silk pieces and ribbons unearthed in Qianshanyang, Huzhou, Zhejiang Province are the earliest and most complete silk fabrics unearthed in the Yangtze River Basin, dating back 4,200 years to the Neolithic Age.

8. When do silkworms produce cocoons?

Different types of silkworms have different times. Silkworms can be roughly divided into three types: spring silkworms, summer silkworms, and autumn silkworms. Autumn silkworms spin silk in October, summer silkworms in July, and spring silkworms in April. When silkworms just hatch from eggs, they are very small and are called "ant silkworms". After eating mulberry leaves for a few days, they suddenly grow up and start to sleep. After sleeping for about a day, they shed their old skins and put on new ones, and then start to eat mulberry leaves again. Mulberry leaves contain water, protein, sugars, fats and other ingredients. After the silkworms eat the mulberry leaves, they digest and decompose, absorb the protein and sugars in the mulberry leaves, and produce silk protein. The silk protein then forms silk liquid. After the silkworms spin and coagulate, the silk liquid becomes a silk cocoon.