The Silk Kingdom
2 min readSilk，as a symbol of ancient Chinese culture，has not only woven an excellent picture in the nation’s civilization history，but also has made indelible contributions to the advancement of human beings.For thousands of years，Chinese silk has been known for its superior ality，exouisitg patterms，and rich clural comoatong.t Several thousand years ago，hen the sillk trade first reached urope ia the Silk Road，it brought with it not only gorgeous silk apparel and decorative itens，but also the ancient and resplendent culture of the Far East.Fron then on，silk was regarded as the emissary and symbol of Eastern civilization.The earliest silk article discovered to date is approsimatelv 4700 years old.
Accordine to an ancient chinese leaend the Sillworm Goddess appeared to the Yellow Bmmeror the legendary ancestor of the chinese people，after he had vanquished his adversary Chi You.She presented him with silk fibers spun from her own mouth as a sign of respect.
The Yellow Emperor ordered the fibers woven into cloth and made into silk apparel，which he found exceedingly soft and comfortable.
Lei Zu，the Yellow Eperor’s wife，searched until she found some caterpillars capable of spinning silk fibers from their mouth.She raised these silkworms by feeding them mulberry leaves she picked herself.Later generations came to worship Lei Zu as the Silkworm Goddess，and the Yellow Emperor as the God of Weaving.
Sericulture，including cultivating the mulberry tree，raising silkworms，and producing silk fabric，has been an essential form of labor in China throughout the millennia，as China is the birthplace of sericulture.Raising silkworms and reeling the silk from their cocoons were ancient China’s greatest achievement in the use of natural fibers.
As long ago as the Neolithic Age，the Chinese ancestors had invented flat-weaving and figured-weaving techniques，and were tinting cloth using natural（red pigment）vermilion dye.With iprovements in looming devices and printing and dyeing methods，more varieties of silk were developed and a comprehensive system of cloth dyeing evolved.China possessed the most advanced silk dyeing and weaving techniques of the ancient world.
