Silk was reserved for the exclusive use of the emperor when it was discovered. Only the emperor, their closest relations, and the highest of dignitaries were allowed silk. It is believed that the emperor would wear a robe of white silk inside the palace, while he, his heir, and his principle wife would wear yellow – the color of the earth – outside of the palace.
Over time, the different societal classes started to wear silk tunics, and silk slowly entered general use. Outside of being used for clothes and decoration, silk was used for industrial purposes. Silk in industry has only recently become something that happened in the west. Silk quickly became a major component of the economy in China. Silk would be used in fishing lines, musical instruments, bowstrings, bindings, and even the world’s first luxury paper. It wasn’t long before even commoners were wearing silken garments.
Silk stopped being just an industrial material in the Han Dynasty, becoming something of a valuable treasure in itself. Farmers would pay taxes in silk and grain. Silk was used to pay civil servants and reward subjects of the empire for their exemplary service. Values that were once calculated in the weight of gold were counted in lengths of silk. It didn’t take long for silk to become a currency used to trade with other countries. Using silk like this continued through the Tang Dynasty as well. It’s possible that the extra importance placed upon silk is why silk production was increased. It became such an integral part of the Chinese language that 230 of the 5,000 most common Mandarin characters have silk as their “key”.
The Secret is Out
As hard as China fought to preserve the secret of silk, it was inevitable that they would lose their monopoly on production of the fabric. The art of sericulture popped up in Korea some time during the second century BC, as droves of Chinese immigrants entered the country and brought the secrets with them. Silk would enter the western world across various channels. Some time after 300AD, sericulture moved west and silkworm cultivation began in India.
It is believed that around 440AD, a prince from Khotan (modern Hetian) – a kingdom on the edges of the Taklamakan desert – won the heart of a princess of China. The princess in question started smuggling silkworm eggs to Khotan in her hairpiece. This didn’t do much for the people in the west though, as the Khotan worked hard to preserve the secrets of sericulture like the Chinese they had stolen them from. Why should they kill a great trading market by sharing the secrets?
The secret continued to spread when, around 550AD, two Nestorian monks entered the court of Byzantine Emperor Justinian with silkworm eggs hidden in bamboo staves. They helped to hatch the eggs into worms, and cared for the worms as they became cocoons. The Byzantine empire had entered the silk trade. The church and state of the empire built imperial workshops, monopolizing the production of silk and – like the Khotan – keeping the secrets of sericulture to themselves. This move opened the doors for a silk trade in the Middle East, which undercut the market for regular-grade Chinese silk. However, China continued to get high prices for their high-quality silk woven specifically to be sold in the Middle East. Trade across the Silk Road remained just how it always had been. The Persians learned and mastered the art of weaving silk by the 6th century, crafting their own unique techniques and rich patterns. It was only during the 13th century, during the Second Crusades, that Italy began to produce silk thanks to some 2,000 skilled silk workers from Constantinople. The production of silk soon spread across Europe as a whole.
