The Birth of a Piece of Silk

Planting the mulberry

China is the hometown of silk， and in a very long time， only China had silk. It is speculate according to the findings of the archaeologists that China already began sericulture， silk reeling and silk weaving as early as the mid stage of the Neolithic Age， five or six thousand years ago.

As we all know， mulberry is the food of silkworms， and only with plenty of food， silkworms can spin cocoons normally normally， so planting mulberry well is the basis for weaving excellent silk. As the climate conditions of of seasons change， mulberry germinates， sprouts and comes into leaf， blossoms and bears fruit， defoliates and rests regularly. The periodic activity is not a simple cycle， but regular and differential reactions to the climate changes of each year.

It is the growing period of mulberry from sprouting in spring to defoliating in winter. This stage can be subdivided into germination stage， vigorous growth stage and slow growth stage. The length of the growing state varies depending on the latitudes， and is long in south and short in north. Every year， people develop production activities associated with mulberry cultivation and sericulture based on the growth and development rules of mulberry. For example， mulberry germination in early spring requires temperatures of more than 12℃. Mulberry buds gradually swell， bud scales split， and spire blade tips are exposed. After 7 to 11 days， spires grow successively after separating from the spores. When more than half of the blades of two to three leaves are exposed， the blade tips split like sparrow beaks， this stage is called sparrow beak stage or swallow mouth stage. Then， spires continue to grow， the exposed petioles stretch outside until the first leaf stretches completely. There is a farmer's proverb about silkworm raising that "hasten the hatching of silkworms when the mulberry germinates， and it takes about forty five days from graine to silk reeling and silk weaving and getting money"， showing that the time for egg incubation depends on the germination. Egg incubation known as hastening the hatching of silkworms. Newly-hatched silkworms are collected about seven days after the egg incubation when the mulberry leaves on the branches of the mulberry are growing fast， sericulturists should choose yellow green tender leaves carefully and feed the newly-hatched silkworms after chopping the tender leaves. Silkworms grow up after eating mulberry leaves and spin cocoons after molting for four times. Finally， sericulturists can pick cocoons duly.

Sericulture

Spinning and cocooning is connected with the silk gland of the silkworm. From the perspective of the growth process of silkworms， the silkworms will digest and absorb nutrients in mulberry leaves after eating a lot of mulberry leaves in the nymphal stage. Then， a variety of amino acids in the mulberry leaves will be absorbed and stored by the silk gland of the silkworm. As silkworm age increases， the silk gland also increases， and the swelling rate of which is particularly fast in the fifth instar. Before cocooning， it can be observed from the appearance that the chest of the silkworm is slightly transparent， which is in that there is a large amount of protein accumulated in the silk gland.

As for the reason why the silkworm spins and cocoons， from the perspective of physiology of silkworm， because protein constituting the silk gland is composed of amino acids， the silkworm will be poisoned if there is too much aminos in the silkworm. So， the silkworm needs to spin to mediate amino acids for the purpose of detoxification. Under natural conditions， as a holometabolous insect， the silkworm is very fragile in each stage of its life. In the pupa stage， the life of silkworm is the most vulnerable， the silkworm will stop having food， lose ability to act， and be vulnerable to natural enemies. The silkworm evolves into spinning and cocooning behavior to wrap itself into a dense cocoon shell， through which the silkworm can avoid natural enemies， thus protecting itself， and can turn into silkworm pupa in the silkworm cocoon， and make the organs of turn into the form of silkworm moth， and finally become the silkworm moth.

In short， the silkworm can detoxify itself through spinning， and protect itself through cocooning， so spinning and cocooning are the instincts for silkworm to adapt to the environment and survive. It takes a silkworm about three days to spin over 1000m unceasingly to form a cocoon.

Diverse colored

cocoons

Color of the cocoons we use for production is generally white. But the cocoons of bombyx moris， in fact， are not only white ones， but also many colorful ones， such as gold， red， rust， green and so on. It is like the skin colors of people， which include yellow， white， black， brown and other colors.

From the biological perspective， the color manifestation is controlled by intrinsic corresponding genes of the species. The normal trait manifested by the cocoon color is white， the pigment generated in the digestion and absorption process of the silkworm variety manifesting this trait gene can not infiltrate in the silk gland， so the silk gland is colorful. While the colors of colorful cocoons are mutant traits， the silkworm variety of yellow and red cocoons has digested and absorbed carotenoids in mulberry leaves， the pigment can finally impregnate into the silk gland with the main component of silk gum， so yellow and red are manifested on the cocoons. Silkworm variety of green cocoons can make the flavonoid pigment generated by the silkworms distributed in the silk gum and the fibroin so that the cocoon silks manifest corresponding green colors.

Do you know

the custom of

making silkworm

flowers？

The so-called making silkworm flowers was an ancient custom hold by the sericulturists to pray for favorable weather， and silkworm harvest mainly in Huzhou， Nanxun， Hanshan of Zhejiang Province. This activity came from Song Dynasty， and was more prosperous after Ming and Qing Dynasty Silkworm flower， namely newly-hatched silkworm which is called cocoon situation by people in Hangzhou， Jiaxing， and Huzhou of Zhejiang Province. The flowers folded with colored paper when making silkworm flowers are called silkworm flowers.

In the past， sericulturists left cocoons for breeding. To ensure that their silkworm eggs could hatch good and more silkworms， people in the radius of hundred miles around Hanshan would get together with silkworm egg backpacks on back and silkworm flowers on head to worship Silkworm Flower Goddess in Silkworm God Temple to pray to get rid of illnesses and misfortunes for their silkworms and wish silkworm harvest on Tomb-Sweeping Day each year. Year after year， carrying on for thousands of years， the temple fair for making silkworm flowers on Tomb-Sweeping Day， the unique folk cultural event in Hanshan was formed.

Silk reeling

Cocoons are far from becoming a piece of silk fabrics. People shall reel off the raw silks from the cocoon through the silk reeling process， and then cohere the silks to make longer raw silks. China started reeling with machinery in the 11th year of the reign of Emperor Xianfeng of Qing Dynasty （1861）， and the first steam-powered modern silk reeling factory， Silk Reeling Establishment， was established in Shanghai. Previously， people completed this time and effort-consuming process by hand and operating the silk reeling car.

In Tang Dynasty， when the Silk Road was prosperous， silk reeling car appeared， which was a good thing for workers relying entirely on hand. However， these silk reeling cars were hand-cranked， the efficiency was lower than the pedal type ones emerging in later ages. In Song Dynasty， the silk reeling technology developed rapidly， pedal type ones were the innovation result evolved from the hand-cranked ones， since then the silk reeling workers could work by hands， so the production efficiency greatly improved. At the same time， people paid more attention to the water quality used while reeling， the reeled silks were then dried out by fire， which could facilitate the implementation of the following processes and keeping the silks of bright color.

Inclined loom appeared in Han Dynasty， is a middle axis pedal loom. There is a 50°-60° inclination between the warp face and the horizontal stand， therefore it is called inclined loom， it is suitable for weaving plain weave cloth

Weaving and dyeing

After silk reeling， basically the silks can be woven. It needs to determine whether the raw silks need to be further processed according to different needs and weaving purposes. The process of using weft silks as warp and tram silks to weave into silk is the basic way of weaving. Silk can be divided into different classes depending on fabric textures， combinations of warp and weft silks， processing techniques and silk patterns.

The most beautiful part of silk lies in its patterns and colors， the former is achieved through the spinning and weaving technique， while the latter is achieved through dyeing. In ancient times， natural dyes， including vegetable dye， mineral pigment and animal secretion dye were used for dyeing. Before the Warring States， there were refinement， dyeing， painting and other fabric processing systems for silk and hemp. After Qin and Han Dynasty， printing and dyeing technologies had made considerable headway， stone dyeing （mineral pigment for dyeing） and vegetable-dyeing （vegetable dye for dyeing） continue to innovate. ?There are many vegetable dyes， such as madder red， hispid arthraxon yellow， hazel oak black， sophora japonica yellow， especially fragrant thoroughwort which can dye the fabrics into deeper indigo after being extracted. Muscovite， cinnabar， graphite， gold and silver are mineral pigments， which are used for painting pigments. Animal dyes include cochineal， laccifer lacca （butea monosperma）， cuttlefish extract， etc. While butea monosperma is a very strange dye of a combination of plant and animal.

With the development of pigments， dyes and dyeing technology， specific terms for textile colors increased accordingly， for example， red silk and deep red silk are names of some red silk fabrics named according to the difference in colors， other silk fabrics of different colors have their own exclusive names.

Birth of an exquisite silk is difficult， requiring complicated processes， so it has very high price， and become extremely popular luxury in various countries. As an important role on the Silk Road， beautiful silk has left an indelible mark in history， and also made our modern life colorful.

Patterns of silk in

Sui and Tang Dynasty

During the period of Sui， Tang and Five Dynasties， except that government officials had to wear robes of specified patterns according to the system， general clothing had very rich and colorful patterns. In terms of the subjects， the patterns are generally divided in the following categories：

Such as long-tailed flycatcher， mandarin duck， peacock， a mythical bird like the phoenix， chicken， duck， phoenix， dragon， sheep， cattle， horse， winged horse， lion， winged lion， deer， boar's head， big-cavel goat， bee， butterfly and so on.

Patterns of birds and beasts already had on the silk fabrics of Han Dynasty .

Such as lotus， chrysanthemum， peony， grapes， pomegranate， honeysuckle， trespe， po-phase flowers， variant po-phase flowers， heart-shaped petals， flowering trees， various small neolamarckia cadamba， etc.

There were circular flowers on the Tibetan collars in Ming Dynasty .

Patterns on Dabaoke flower ghatpot are circular flowers .

Such as strip， lattice， rhombus， chess game， gauge， turtleback， twist and turn， herringbone， ball and so on.

Such as hunter， knight， two men holding jars， "Hu King" leading camel， etc.

Such as Chupu （an ancient game）， water wave， cloud， moon， double axes， stretched wings， Chinese character "Ji"， "Gui"， "Shan"， "Tian"， "Wang"， etc.