Silk production: past and present

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Disputes about when the silk production process began continue to this day. However, the finds of archaeologists in China could already put an end to this issue - fragments of fabric discovered in 1958 in the province of Shandong, in eastern China, are the oldest silk products in the world that have come down to us. Now silk is called the "king of fabrics" and it is made in many varieties, and the most valuable and expensive - 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 dates back over 6,000 years. The history of this magnificent fabric is covered with legends. According to one of them, the wife of the Yellow Emperor Huangdi was sitting under a mulberry tree and drinking tea when a white ball - a cocoon - fell into her cup. The woman loved to contemplate various phenomena and saw how a strong white thread appeared from a fluffy ball. Winding the thread around her finger, the emperor's wife realized that such fibers could be used to create fabric. By her commandsilkworms began to grow specially.

Later, a primitive loom was invented in China, followed by silk production in ancient China during the Shang Dynasty in the 16th century BC. e. reached the highest level.

On pain of death: the secret of Chinese weavers

The Chinese masters kept their art in deep secret for more than a thousand years. The secret of silk production in the ancient world was very strictly classified - in the history of mankind it was one of the most guarded "business secrets". The ban on the export of silkworm larvae, cocoons, mulberry seeds acted under pain of death.

Although in those distant times only emperors and nobles had the right to dress in silk, the culture of sericulture and silk weaving quickly spread throughout the Celestial Empire, both the middle class and the poor bought the fabric.

Fine canvases and outfits were famous for their excellent quality and fine workmanship. But neither bans nor executions could stop the advance of silk to other countries.

The Great Silk Road

Silk goods have become an important part of the foreign trade of the Chinese Empire. The valuable fabric was brought to Europe thanks to the Silk Road. Goods were transported over the mountains and deserts, on camels and mules, and no obstacles could stop the heavily laden caravans - a valuable cargo promised a considerable profit.

The Great Silk Road ran through Asia and Europe,linking the life and way of life of different 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 forked in the northern and southern directions: to the south, the road led to Fergana, Samarkand, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the Mediterranean Sea, and the northern part diverged into two segments - one went to Central Asia, and the second along the lower reaches of the Syrdarya River to the Western Kazakhstan and, skirting the north-east of the Black Sea, to Europe. The total length of the Great Silk Road was more than 7 thousand kilometers.

So the production of silk appeared in Korea, then in Japan, India, and finally in European countries and the Roman Empire. For centuries, the Silk Road has represented the true idea of global trade in action. The trade routes of the Silk Road were created over thousands of years. "One Belt, One Road" - this idea is still modern today: in the 21st century, China's policy of revitalizing the Silk Road is being revived with investments in roads, high-speed rails and ports, which ensures the efficiency of production bases on 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 the production of silk in ancient China was highly classified, according to legend, Roman monks managed to secretly take silkworm cocoons to the capital of the Byzantine Empire.empire of Constantinople. It was since then that a worm farm (a room for breeding silkworm caterpillars) was set up in the imperial palace 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.

Silkworm breeding and the production of natural silk requires a lot of attention, painstaking work and careful control.

Main production steps

If we briefly describe the production of silk, we 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 increases rapidly. Grown caterpillar larvae surround themselves with a substance that is produced by their special glands. First, two thin silks stand out, solidifying in air. Soon, a dense thread network forms around the caterpillar. Having built the frame of the cocoon, 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 dipped in hot water to get threads. Their length can be from 400 to 1000 meters and a thickness of 10-12 microns. A few twisted silkworm threads are raw. Next, the resulting threads are turned into fabric. The labor intensity of obtaining fabric is significant: about 630 cocoons are spent on a women's dressing gown.

Further development of Chinese technology

The resulting thread had to be wound on a bobbin. FirstSilk-rolling wheels were invented during the Ming Dynasty. In the 18th century in Jiangsu province, craftsmen made machines in which the wheel was driven by feet, which increased labor productivity.

Then a machine was created for the production of multi-color large-patterned fabric, which served to further develop 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. The demand for silk fabrics grew both within China and around the world. Later, the mechanization of silk production was improved - the history of this fabric is intertwined with the achievements of weaving engineering.

Silk-spinning and weaving: history and modernity

During the industrialization of the 19th century, the European silk industry declined. Japan became the second "silk empire" after China. Cheap Japanese silk, especially due to the opening of the Suez Canal, was one of many factors in reducing its overall cost. In addition, the advent of man-made fibers began to dominate 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 practically the onlymajor exporter until the 1970s.

China has gradually redefined its position as a world leader in silk production and raw yarn exporter, proving that the history of silk follows its own boomerang principles. Today, about 125 thousand tons of silk are produced in the world. Almost two thirds of this production is supplied by China. Other major producers are India, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Uzbekistan and Brazil. The United States of America is the largest importer of silk products.

Properties of natural fabrics

Products made from 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: all over the world, enterprising merchants arrange silk tours to this country.

When buying products made from natural silk, you should consider:

• silk products require hand washing;
• stains on silk should be washed quickly in cold water with mild detergents;
• after washing, the product must be thoroughly rinsed and dried gently;
• iron clothes made of silk should be at a low temperature (it is specially marked on irons);
• exquisite products or those with multi-color prints are best dry-cleaned;
• It is best to store products in a case (but not plastic) and away from direct sunlight.

Following these simple tips will help to keep bright elegant products and wardrobe items presented by nature itself for a long time.

Artificial silk: features and differences

At the end of the 19th century, artificial silk first appeared, its production was established from cellulose fiber. The fabric was named viscose.

Artificial and synthetic types of silk fabrics have a unique sheen, they are smooth and durable. How to distinguish artificial fabric from natural? Indeed, often on the market you can buy a fake at a high price.

Here are some tips on what to look for when choosing fabric:

• natural material is soft and warm to the touch, unlike artificial, cool and less soft;
• natural canvas wrinkle little, artificial wrinkle more;
• natural fabrics are slightly shiny and iridescent, artificial fabrics have a sharp sheen;
• the broken end of the artificial thread looks like a brush with fluffy fibers, and the natural one looks like a bundle of individual mini-fibers;
• wet rayon thread breaks more easily than dry thread;
• the method of burning a thread cannot always be applied, but it is the most reliable: a natural thread sinters into a dense lump, quickly goes out and smells like burnt hair, and an artificial one burns out to the end, emitting 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 color and fade over time.

Silk can be called a unique product that has come down to us from antiquity without losing its beauty anddemand. 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 a master man.