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sī chóu
丝 绸
Silk
Silk is a kind of fabric elaborately made of the natural protein fibrin of pods. Products made of silk have bright luster and soft touch; silk clothes are very comfortable and soft, and has the function of adjusting body heat and moisture, and preventing ultraviolet radiation; silk can also be used to produce home commodities like curtains and carpets, and it is favored by the consumers for the functions of absorbing sound and dirt, heat preservation, and fire-proof. Foreign customers also call silk "the headspring of beauty", for products made of it are rather flowery.
China is the earliest country raising silkworms and weaving silk. It is said the silkworm was first raised by Lei Zu, wife of the Yellow Emperor. According to archaeological speculation, the Chinese have begun to raise silkworms, and pull and weave silk since the middle Neolithic Period 5000-6000 years ago. In the Shan Dynasty, the silk production had reached a certain level, relatively complicated weave machines and skills were developed, and the silk products reached a high technical level. Expanding with the foreign trade scale of the Han Dynasty, the trade and export of silk was unprecedentedly prosperous. Silk, due to its delicate, comfortable and rare characteristics, is very popular among the aristocrats in European palaces. The silk trade promoted the further development of economic and cultural exchanges between China and her neighbor countries, forming the famous prosperous "Silk Road".
The invention of silk made the silkworm weaving a relatively important handicraft industry in ancient China, and exerted a great influence on China in terms of ancient poetry culture and folk-customs. Many articles in The Book of Songs, for example, describe the situation about raising silkworms by women, and folk craftworks like embroidery also take silk as materials. Silk is not only a noble costuming, but a precious artwork. It contains abundant cultural meanings and historical values, representing China's age-old splendid culture. The silk trade promoted the large-scale economic and cultural exchange between the West and East, and made a great contribution to the development of human culture.
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