Silk has a long and fascinating history. Worn by ancient Chinese royalty, this luxurious fabric is produced from silkworm cocoons.
These silkworm cocoons are identified in a popular Chinese legend about a royal empress named Chi Ling Zi around 2640 B.C. There are different versions of this story that substitute the name of a different empress, yet the story stays the same.
These silkworm cocoons are identified in a popular Chinese legend about a royal empress named Chi Ling Zi around 2640 B.C. There are different versions of this story that substitute the name of a different empress, yet the story stays the same.
The Legend
Empress Chi Ling Zi was walking through the palace gardens while drinking tea. While she strolled under some mulberry trees, a silkworm (Bomyx Mori) cocoon fell into her tea and unraveled into a thin thread. She realized the thread could be woven together to create a new fabric. She shared this discovery with her husband, the emperor. From then on Empress Chi and her husband, Emperor Huang Di, became the world’s first silkworm farmers.