“Silk is the queen of fabrics and the fabric of queens.”
The Chinese Empress Who Accidentally Discovered Silk Legend says that silk was discovered around 2700 BC in ancient China. The story of the discovery of silk is recorded in writing by Confucius, one of China’s most famous philosophers and politicians. According to his tale, the Chinese Empress Leizu (also known as Xi Ling Shi) discovered silk by accident when a silkworm cocoon dropped into her cup of tea. Hot water softens the silk fiber that the silkworm cocoon is made of, and thus the cocoon began to lose its cohesiveness. When Leizu lifted the cocoon from her teacup, the end of the silk thread was loosened, and the cocoon began to unravel. Leizu noticed that the cocoon was made out of a single long strand of silk, and she had the innovative idea of weaving this fine thread into a piece of fabric.
Empress Leizu, wife of the Yellow Emperor Huangdi, discovered silk production in ancient China, pioneering sericulture. She studied silkworms, cultivated Mulberry trees for their food, and invented tools like the silk reel and loom. This led to a profitable silk industry, initially practiced exclusively by women. Despite the legendary tale of a cocoon in her teacup, Leizu became revered as the Goddess of the Silkworm, with altars dedicated to her across China, like in Beijing’s Beihai Park.
