Silk culture is a treasure of Chinese culture, with a long history and rich cultural connotations. Silk has been developed for at least 4,000 years, and the Chinese sericulture is considered to be the origin and core of silk culture. As early as the Neolithic era, China’s ancestors began to plant mulberry and raise silkworms. The use of silk began at the end of the fishing and hunting era, while sericulture began at the beginning of the agricultural era. From the Western Zhou Dynasty to the Warring States Period, the silk weaving handicraft industry developed rapidly, and the number of areas where silk fabrics were woven increased greatly. Sericulture production had a great impact on the politics and economy of each country. Shang Yang’s change of law also attaches great importance to the development of silkworms, the change of law provides for the production of silk to a certain amount can be exempted from the corvée.
The development of silk culture was not only limited to China, it also connected China with the rest of the world in ancient times. During the Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian made a mission to the West, thus creating the “Silk Road”, which linked the Western Han Dynasty with many countries in Central Asia, promoting economic and cultural exchanges between them. In the Wei, Jin and North and South Dynasties, China and foreign exchanges in silk and sericulture technology more closely, and the formation of the Maritime Silk Road, promoting the cultural exchanges and development of the East and West. During the Sui and Tang dynasties, China’s silk industry gradually shifted to the Yangtze River valley, and the Tang dynasty was the heyday of silk production, regardless of output, quality and variety reached unprecedented levels.
Silk culture occupies an extremely important place in Chinese culture, reflecting not only the Chinese people’s reverence for silkworms and reverence for nature, but also the essence of Chinese culture and traditional aesthetic values. The production process of silk requires multiple steps, each of which needs to be carefully crafted by artisans, reflecting the Chinese people’s artisanal spirit and pursuit of excellence. At the same time, the history and development of silk culture reflects the richness and colorfulness of China as an ancient civilization, and the influence of silk culture has transcended the limits of time and space to become a representative of Chinese culture and a part of world culture.