AGES OF SILKEN LUXURY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 206, 3 September 1935, Page 10

AGES OF SILKEN LUXURY

Its Discovery by Chinese

/jRHERE is no doubt that silk had its origin in China. Mention of mulberry and silkworms appears in the oldest books of Chinese national literature. The rearing of silkworms and the practical use of silk thread have been such important factors in Chinese culture that historians have given the most (elaborate accounts and exhaustive details about them. Chinese customs and Religious ceremonies were affected by the ‘ 1 silk industry” of those times. In the year 3000 8.C., Emperor Shinfcong, successor to Emperor Fohi, supported the growing of mulberry trees and the rearing of silkworms. He used the silk in the cocoons as fishing lines ■ •nd as strings for a musical instrument galled “kin.” The present way of unwinding the tocoons is said to have been started by the Empress Si-Lung-Shi, wife of Emperor Hoang-Ti, and their daughter LuiCL'seu in 2698 B.C. The story goes that tne day Empress Si-Lung-Shi observed t silkworm making its cocoon and tried unwinding the thread in the opposite direction. For this the Empress Si-Lung-Shi is now honoured every year in Can- I |on at the time of the silk crop. Afterwards the rearing of silkworms ►as taken up as a regular trade and it to play an important part in the political and economic history Of China. *he Chinese classic “Hawai-Nan-Tse” fells of the silkworm. Confucius wrote (n his books about the building of great tilk houses in the year 2357 B.C. as well Is the erection of dams on the river to guard the mulberry trees Igainst floods' The first mention of a filk fabric or cloth occurred in the year <255 8.C., when pieces of silk were Brought as presents to the Court of Cmpcror Shun-Tien from the province |f Shantung,, which can be considered ohe actual birthplace of silk.

In the year 2200 B.C. the first mention is made of silk dyeing in the book jf Tschu-king, which describes the use If dyed fabrics. Also Confucius tells ►bout red and black silk clothes which xere given in 2022 B.C. to Emperor Ju, |s tribute.

The special use of such silk fabrics ►as restricted to flags and umbrellas, •he colour of denoted the rank of Mobility. Yellow was the special colour tor the Emperor; violet was the colour (or his household, blue, red and black leing reserved for his knights according Io the stations they occupied. At first lhe rearing of silkworms was only the Privilege of the nobility and was therefore very limited. It was only under the •eign of the wise Emperor “Yu’ 2205 •.C. that the silk industry was allowed to be carried out by the Chinese people, •y ordering vast spaces to be covered frith mulberries, and thus starting growth' of the great silk industry. Up till the eighth century 8.C., the luxury of wearing silk still existed, fold brocades were made in which tiulti-coloured bird feathers were often Inserted. Nevertheless, the silk industry fras rather restricted, as apart from the impress and ladies-in-waiting, only the

favoured upper classes were interested in it and the rearing of cocoons was confined to Shantung. Thus, full 20 centuries passed before it came out beyond the borders of Shantung province. Even between the eighth and third centuries B.C. the actual term “Silk Industry” could not be used, as actually there was practically none. Very little is to be found in Chinese historical works about a socalled silk trade, as up to the third century B.C. no intercourse took place between China proper and other Asiatic races. Through natural and political frontiers Cfliina kept to herself, or rather, was compelled to keep to herself, as the Barbars in Asia did their utmost not to let the growing Chinese culture go beyond Chinese frontiers, and lot this reason the silk industry remained the property of China for 3000 years up to the Christian era. It was only about 200 8.C., after the fall of the Thsin Dynasty, that Chinese emigrants settled in Korea and started mulberry planting and worm rearing there. As to what time silk appeared in Japan, one fact is certain, that it was not before the advent of Christianity, and furthermore it came to Japan from Korea. Of course, silkworms and cocoons were reared in ancient times by other races than the Chinese. The mulberry tree existed in a wild state in the whole of western Asia. Silk worms were to be found in East India and Persia; however, these were quite different from the Chinese. They were wild races and gave only a poor cocoon, from which thread could not be unwound, most of the cocoons, being pierced with holes on the top from where the chrysalis, changing into a butterfly, had escaped. The natives simply had these cocoons torn to bits anj spun some sort of thread out of them. Actually, both in India aud Persia, the real silk fabric or woven cloth was not known until it came from China proper. Looking back into other countries, it is certain that in old Egypt and Babylon, only cotton and linen cloths were known. History recounts that linen was w’Orked to such a perfection and fineness that it nearly had the appearance of a silk tissue.

Coming back to China, it is only with Emperor Shi-Hoang-Ti, 249 8.C., the founder of the Thsin Dynasty, that the records show a beginning of trade intercourse with other countries. There is nothing definite to show when woven silk actually made its first appearance in Europe. It is recorded, however, that among the spoils won by Alexander the Great after the war in Persia, silk was found, but it is not known from which province.

When silk appeared for the first time in Home it created wonderment, and was only used for ceremonial robes. When Emperor Heliogabal ascended the throne in 217 A.D. ho was dressed in a beautiful purple coat of silk. The spendthrift Caligula, who dressed himself only in silks, earned the soubriquet of “Sericatus” or the Silkman.