Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
In the 20th century, Japan and China regained their earlier dominant role in silk production, and China is now once again the world's largest producer of silk. The rise of new imitation silk fabrics, such as nylon and polyester , has reduced the prevalence of silk throughout the world, being cheaper and easier to care for.
The process of making silk from Sericulture by Liang Kai, Southern Song dynasty, c. 13th century. China is the world's largest and earliest silk producer. The vast majority of Chinese silk originates from the mulberry silkworms (Bombyx mori). During the larval stage of its life cycle, the insects feed on the leaves of mulberry trees.
Chinese embroidery has a long history since the Neolithic age. Because of the quality of silk fibre, most Chinese fine embroideries are made in silk. Some ancient vestiges of silk production have been found in various Neolithic sites dating back 5,000–6,000 years in China.
The production of silk originated in China in the Neolithic period, although it would eventually reach other places of the world (Yangshao culture, 4th millennium BC). Silk production remained confined to China until the Silk Road opened at some point during the latter part of the 1st millennium BC, though China maintained its virtual monopoly over silk production for another thousand years.
Woven silk textile from Tomb No. 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, China, dated to the Western Han Era, 2nd century BCE. The Silk Road derives its name from the lucrative trade in silk, first developed in China, [9] [10] and a major reason for the connection of trade routes into an extensive transcontinental network.
Silk is believed to have first been produced in China as early as the Neolithic period. Sericulture has become an important cottage industry in countries such as Brazil, China, France, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Russia, and Thailand. Today, China and India are the two main producers, with more than 60% of the world's annual production.
The Mongol Yuan dynasty became the first conquest dynasty in Chinese history to rule the entirety of China proper and its population as an ethnic minority. The dynasty also directly controlled the Mongol heartland and other regions, inheriting the largest share of territory of the eastern Mongol empire , which roughly coincided with the modern ...
Hanging scroll: Hanging scrolls originated in their earliest form from literature and other texts written on bamboo strips and silk banners in ancient China. [265] [266] [267] The earliest hanging scrolls are related to and developed from silk banners in early Chinese history. [265] [266] [268] These banners were long and hung vertically on ...