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How was the process of silk discovered?
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.
Where did the princess who took the knowledge of how do you make silk out of China hide the cocoons?
Answer: Many years ago, when a clever princess was leaving her house after her wedding, she hid the cocoons in her long elaborate hair do. At her husband’s house, she took out these cocoons from her hair and started gathering silk threads. In this way, the knowledge of silk making left China.
How did the secret of silk get out?
The West finally cracked the secret in 552 CE when the Byzantine emperor Justinian sent two Nestorian monks to central Asia. The monks hit the eggs in their hollow bamboo staves. The eggs hatched into worms which then spun cocoons.
How did the Chinese keep silk making a secret?
Nobles and kings of foreign lands desired silk and would pay high prices for the cloth. The emperors of China wanted to keep the process for making silk a secret. Anyone caught telling the secret or taking silkworms out of China was put to death. The Chinese managed to keep silk a secret for over 1000 years.
How did the silk secret get out?
What was the penalty for revealing the secrets of making silk?
But for thousands of years, the Chinese people kept the work of silkworms a secret. Death was the penalty for telling the secret. Long before the rest of the world learned how silk was made, the Chinese were trading this treasured fabric with people west of China.
Why did the Chinese keep silk making a secret?
Keeping Silk a Secret Silk became a prized export for the Chinese. Nobles and kings of foreign lands desired silk and would pay high prices for the cloth. The emperors of China wanted to keep the process for making silk a secret. Anyone caught telling the secret or taking silkworms out of China was put to death.