Ancient China’s Silk

One of Ancient China’s most important inventions was the invention of silk. It is said that it was created sometime around 2696 BCE by Leizu, wife of the Yellow Emperor (the Yellow Emperor was believed to be a perfect king who ruled in Ancient China for around 100 years). A cocoon fell into her tea, and Leizu noticed that it was created of a strong, smooth thread. She figured out how to combine the parts of the smooth thread and create silk. She also created a loom to make the process of silk-making easier, and introduced silk to Ancient China.
The process of making silk was as follows:

1. A special moth bred by the Ancient Chinese gave birth to about 500 eggs.
2. The baby worms that came from the eggs were fattened by eating mulberry leaves.
3. The worms created cocoons.
4. The cocoon was steamed so that the worm inside died. The silk fibers in the cocoon were then loosened by hot water.
5. The silk fibers were combined into threads (usually about 5-6 silk fibers were needed to make a thread.)
6. The threads were combined to create cloth, and the cloth was pounded so that it became softer.

Silk was very, very influential in Ancient China. It was an extremely important social symbol in Chinese society. For a long time, only the rich and wealthy could wear silk in Ancient China. In fact, in some areas, silk was even used as money.

Silk was also desired by the wealthy of other civilizations, and people were willing to pay a lot for the valuable cloth, so China kept the process for silk production a secret for around a thousand years. Silk was so important in trade that a massive series of roads and trails, called the Silk Road, was formed. It is said that silk was even introduced to Europe by the fourth century, BCE. Keeping silk a secret gave China a monopoly in silk production, which grew China’s economy immensely. Keeping the process for silk making a secret was so important in Ancient China that people who were caught telling the secret of silk production or smuggling silkworm eggs were murdered. However, in approximately 550 AD, the secret of silk was leaked when two monks smuggled out silkworm eggs.
In conclusion, silk was a critical and very important invention of Ancient China. It was extremely useful and could be used for many purposes, and it clearly helped Ancient China’s economy. If it were not for silk, life would have been very different in Ancient China and the rest of the world.