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A kingdom for silk, or the history and present day of the world’s most expensive material
The noble thread had its beginning in ancient China. It wound its way through Asia and Europe, arousing excitement and desire. Today its producers are being looked at by geneticists.
The origins of silkworm farming are shrouded in a thick veil of mystery. Surely it was at the Yellow River, where mulberry trees grow, on which feeds an inconspicuous moth called Bombyx mandarin, whose caterpillars weave extraordinary yarn. The thread from a single cocoon can be up to 3 km long, is super-thin (0.02 mm), extremely strong and surprisingly durable, and the woven material not only caresses and cools the skin, but also pleases the eye. According to the most popular Chinese myth, it was the goddess Leizu, wife (or daughter) of the legendary Yellow Emperor, who first learned how to unroll cocoons and weave the fine material from the thin yarn. Others speak of a horse-headed goddess or princess Si Ling-chi. They may feature the motif of a cocoon accidentally falling into a cup of hot tea (a warm bath actually dissolves the sericin, releasing the thread), but they always feature women. This is because silk-making was customarily their occupation.
They were the ones who made sure that the eggs stored in the hatcheries did not freeze or overheat, and after the caterpillars hatched…
