Silk is a fabric that is used throughout the entire the world. It is a very elegant fabric that many people prize to have. The silk fabric can trace its origins back 4000 years in China. It has a very interesting myth related to it but for all that can be said it may also be the truth. Silk is farmed and manufactured in a method known as sericulture and it is an extensive process but it is almost the same wherever silk is farmed. There are two major types of silk which are pure silk and wild silk, which is known as tussah. These two types have specific fabric and farming differences. In today's world silk is imported and exported by countries all over the world.
The discovery of silk has a very interesting legend that is associated with is. It all begins in 2640 BC when the 14-year-old wife, Xilingji (His-ling-chi) of China's third emperor, Huangdi (Huang Ti) is in the palace garden making tea. She accidentally dropped a silkworm cocoon into a cup of hot water and discovered that the silk fiber could be loosened and unwound. By taking more cocoons and placing them in hot water she was able to take the single fibers and wind them together to create a thread that was strong enough to be woven into cloth. .
It is not certain if this is the way that silk was truly discovered but it is an interesting story. Yet, recent archeological finds have proven that silk manufacturing is certainly much older than recorded history. For many centuries, it was the Chinese nobility's most closely guarded secret. Only nobles of the Chinese society were allowed to wear anything made out of silk, and if any foreigners entered the Forbidden City in China anything that was related to silk was quickly hidden in order to keep silk a Chinese secret. Although as time went on laws on silk became less regulated and silk and methods of farming it spread throughout the Eurasian continent. This is the how silk was discovered and slowly spread through different parts of the world.