Споры о том, когда был начат процесс производства silks, continue to this day. However, the finds of archaeologists in China already, in fact, could put an end to this issue - tissue fragments discovered in 1958 in Shandong province, in eastern China, are the oldest silk products in the world that have come down to us. Now silk is called the “king of fabrics” and is made in many varieties, and the most valuable and expensive is natural material, which is inseparably linked with the history and culture of the Celestial Empire.
Silk production in China has more than 6thousands of years. The history of this magnificent fabric is fanned by legends. According to one of them, the wife of the Yellow Emperor Huangdi was sitting under a mulberry tree and drinking tea when a white ball, a cocoon, fell into her cup. The woman loved to contemplate various phenomena and saw how a strong white thread appeared from a fluffy ball. Having wound the thread on the finger, the emperor's wife realized that such fibers can be used to create fabric. On her orders, silkworms were grown on purpose.
Later in China, a primitive loom was invented, after which silk production in ancient China in the era of the Shang dynasty in the 16th century BC. e. reached the highest level.
Chinese masters kept their art indeep secret for over a thousand years. The secret of silk production in the ancient world was classified very strictly - in the history of mankind this was one of the most protected "business secrets". The ban on the export of silkworm larvae, cocoons, seeds of mulberry tree acted under the penalty of death.
Although in those days they had the right to dress insilk dresses only emperors and know, the culture of sericulture and silk-weaving quickly spread throughout the Middle Kingdom, the matter was bought and middle class, and the poor.
Elegant canvases and outfits were famous for their excellent quality and fine workmanship. But neither bans nor executions could stop the advancement of silk to other countries.
Silk products have become an important component of the externaltrade of the Chinese Empire. Valuable fabric was brought to Europe thanks to the Silk Road. The goods were transported over mountains and deserts, on camels and mules, and no obstacles could stop the heavily loaded caravans - a valuable cargo promised a considerable profit.
The Great Silk Road ran through Asia andEurope, linking the life and life of various nations. It began in the valley of the Yellow River, passed through the western part of the Great Wall of China to Issyk-Kul Lake. Then the road branched off in the northern and southern directions: to the south, the road led to Fergana, Samarkand, Iraq, Iran, Syria and the Mediterranean Sea, and the northern one separated by two segments - one went to Central Asia, and the second along the lower Syrdarya river to the Western Kazakhstan and, skirting the northeast of the Black Sea, to Europe. The total length of the Great Silk Road was more than 7 thousand kilometers.
So silk production began in Korea, then inJapan, India, and finally in European countries and the Roman Empire. For centuries, the Silk Road was a true idea of global commerce in action. Silk Road trade routes have been established for thousands of years. “One belt, one road” - this idea is still up-to-date: in the 21st century, China’s policy of reviving the Silk Road with investments in roads, high-speed rails and ports is reviving, which ensures the efficiency of production bases on a wide regional belt.
You can learn about the Great Silk Road in the largest silk museum in the world in Hangzhou. Here a huge number of unique products and fragments of old paintings of various dynasties and eras are kept.
Although silk production in ancient China wasthe strictest secrecy, according to legend, the Roman monks managed to secretly remove the silkworm cocoons to the capital of the Byzantine Empire, Constantinople. It was since then that a wormfish was set up in the imperial palace (a room for breeding caterpillars of the silkworm) and winding machines were installed. The products had a fabulous price - and this is explained by the complexity and multi-stage nature of the process for producing yarns and then finished fabric.
Breeding silkworms and the production of natural silk requires great attention, hard work and careful monitoring.
If you describe the production of silk briefly, you getthe next process. Butterflies of the silkworm during their life, which lasts from 4 to 6 days, lay about 500 eggs. The larvae are fed mulberry leaves, they have a huge appetite, their weight is increasing rapidly. Grown caterpillar larvae surround themselves with a substance that is produced by their special glands. First, there are two thin silks, frozen in the air. Soon around the caterpillar a thick filament network is formed. Having built a cocoon frame, the caterpillar moves to its center, forming gradually a cocoon - a white fluffy ball.
After 8-9 days the larvae are destroyed, and the cocoonsimmersed in hot water to get strands. Their length can be from 400 to 1000 meters and a thickness of 10-12 microns. A few twisted silkworm threads are raw. Next, the resulting threads are turned into fabric. The complexity of obtaining tissue is significant: the women's robe takes about 630 cocoons.
The resulting thread should be wound on the spool.The first silk wheels were invented during the Ming dynasty. In the XVIII century in the province of Jiangsu masters made machines in which the wheel was set in motion with their feet, which increased labor productivity.
Then a machine was created for makingmulticolor high-grade fabric, which served the further development of technology. The Chinese silk industry was much more perfect European - the first machine, weaving silk ribbons, appeared in Germany only in the 16th century. The demand for silk fabrics grew both inside the Middle Kingdom and around the world. In the future, the mechanization of silk production was improved - the history of this fabric is interlaced with the achievements of weaving engineering.
In the period of industrialization of the XIX centurythe decline of the European silk industry. Japan became the second “silk empire” after China. Cheap Japanese silk, especially due to the opening of the Suez Canal, was one of many factors reducing its overall value. In addition, the appearance of artificial fibers began to dominate in the manufacture of products such as stockings and parachutes.
Two world wars interrupted the supply of raw materials fromJapan, and the European silk industry was stagnant. But in the early 50s of the twentieth century, silk production in Japan was restored, the quality of raw material improved. Japan along with China remained one of the world's leading producers of raw silk and practically the only major exporter until the 1970s.
Китай постепенно переосмыслил свою позицию a world leader in silk production and exporter of raw yarn, proving that the history of silk follows its own principles of boomerang. Today around 125 thousand tons of silk is produced in the world. Almost two thirds of this product comes from China. Other major manufacturers are India, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam, Uzbekistan and Brazil. The United States of America is the largest importer of silk products.
Products from natural silk should beshiny and delicate, and their color - uniform. It is best to buy silk in China - in Suzhou, Hangzhou and Shanghai: around the world, enterprising merchants arrange silk tours to this country.
Buying products from natural silk, you should consider:
Compliance with these simple tips will help to keep bright elegant items and wardrobe items donated by nature for a long time.
At the end of the 19th century artificial silk appeared for the first time, its production was set up from cellulose fiber. The fabric is called viscose.
Artificial and synthetic types of silkThe fabrics have a unique sheen, they are smooth and durable. How to distinguish artificial fabric from natural? After all, often in the market you can buy a fake at a high price.
Here are some tips on what to look for when choosing a fabric:
Silk can be called a unique product thatReached us from antiquity, without losing beauty and demand. Fashion houses from all over the world - Dolce and Gabbana, Valentino and others create collections based on natural silk, delighting sophisticated connoisseurs of true beauty with new facets of the quality of this material - the gift of nature to the master.
