Silk

Thread that can be drawn off the cocoon spun by the grub of the moth Bombyx mori and used for weaving fine cloth, which originated in China in Neolithic period. The silk industry was established by the Anyang period, c 1300-1030 BC. The Anyang oracle bones include characters for silk, silk fabrics, silkworm, and mulberry tree, and traces of silk fabrics are occasionally found preserved. Silk fabric was used as a writing surface at least as early as the 5th century BC. Both manuscripts and paintings on silk have come from Chu tombs of the 5th century BC and later. Elaborate methods of weaving were developed by the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220 AD) and textiles exported in large numbers along Silk Route to Roman world and later to Byzantium. The route is the collective name for several overland and ocean routes for silk trade from the 1st-8th centuries AD. From Chang'an, capital of the Han Dynasty, the main route went west through the Gansu corridor.

The delicate process of rearing the domesticated silkworm (Bombyx mori) and reeling silk from its cocoon was first mastered in China. Evidence for sericulture in Neolithic times is so far not conclusive but the silk industry was clearly well established by the Anyang period (cl300-cl030 bc). The Anyang oracle bone texts include characters for silk, silk fabrics, silkworm, and mulberry tree, and traces of silk fabrics are occasionally found preserved in the corrosion products on Shang bronze objects that were wrapped in cloth before burial. The silk of these Shang fabrics was reeled, that is, unwound from the cocoon in a continuous filament rather than spun from the short fibres of the damaged cocoon cut by the emerging moth. Patterned weaves (damasks) have been identified in the fabrics from Anyang and clay impressions of silk embroidery were found in two early Western Zhou tombs excavated at Baoji Rujiazhuang in 1975. The decoration of a unique bronze vessel of the 6th century bc found in Hunan province depicts silkworms swarming on mulberry leaves. Silk fabric was used as a writing surface at least as early as the 5th century bc (the more usual vehicle for brush writing, used already in Shang times, was bamboo strips strung together to form a sort of scroll). Both manuscripts and paintings on silk have come from Chu tombs of the 5th century bc and later. Especially well-preserved Han damasks, polychrome weaves, and embroidered silks were found in 2nd century bc Chu tombs at Mawangdui (see also Noin Ula). From the Han to the Tang dynasty silk was the main commodity in overland trade with the West along the Silk Route.