How did it all begin?

Sericulture: The rearing of silkworm for the production of silk.

Silk is the oldest fibre in history and was first discovered back in 6000BC by the Chinese empress Lady His-Ling Shih (wife of the yellow emperor).

A luxurious item only exclusively made for top royal rulers and allies associated to the Chinese emperor. Gradually silk in China was worn across a spectrum of diverse society and was no longer used as clothing for the wealthy and noble but for other industrial products such as fishing lines.

Since it was such a precious commodity the Chinese kept there discovery of silk a secret for more than 2000 years and dominated the manufacturing, production and monopoly of sericulture. During the Han Dynasty, silk was then used by farmers to pay taxes in order to trade for grain and silk and was no longer seen as just an industrial material.

The Chinese ruled and controlled the development and production of silk and the product soon was highly sought by neighboring counties as it was a precious valuable creation. Since it was such an important and expensive commodity the Chinese endeavored to keep silk as a secret to continue their supremacy, however not long later, in 200BC Korea was the second country to develop their own silk. During this period many Chinese citizens were immigrating to various parts of the world and took along the magnificent discoveries made by the empress. Countries such as India soon got hold of this valuable article of trade and then developed their own silkworm.

Shortly silk was traded at an international level using the Silk Road, an ancient route for trading goods with connected countries and cities such as India and the Mediterranean. Before the Mediterranean got hold of silk, Emperor Justinian from Byzantium (an ancient Greek city) sent two monks to China out of desperation to steal this development; the monks simply had hidden silkworm eggs inside their bamboo walking sticks and this was one of the first cases of espionage by another country.

This moment in history was life changing to China’s trade in silk as prices for this precious fiber soon heavily decreased worldwide.