History of silk – Introduction

As an ancient Chinese legend goes, there is a holy mulberry tree called Fusang on earth which soars into the sky, and on top of the Fusang tree stands the Court of Heaven, where there is an ingenious female weaver. Then, from a time that nobody knows exactly when, mulberry groves started rooting in soil prosperously while sounds of looms spread across the land. Do the heavenly Fusang and the weaver descend to earth to become the mulberries and weavers and bring us the brilliant silk? How did silk exactly originate on the land with a history of five thousand years?

How are single silk threads spun into colourful silk products such as silk damask and gauze? Do these popular idioms such as “a glorious future” and “blue comes from the indigo plant but is bluer than the plant itself”(meaning the pupil surpasses the master) have any relations with silk? What role did silk play in Chinese history, and how did silk manage to evolve into such a major industry along the time? if you are interested in finding answers to all these questions, just follow us to explore the world of silk in the History of Silk. You will find here about green mulberry leaves, magic silkworms, silvery raw silk, graceful silk products and intricate looms. What an extraordinary and romantic world they constitute!