When was si ling chi born

Anyone caught divulging the source or process of silk making was put to death. China kept its secret for years. But in AD a Chinese princess about to be married to an Indian man hid a cocoon in her hair ornament, and smuggled it into India. But it was Si Ling-Chi who forever gave her name to the luxurious fabric she invented. The word silk is a phonetic approximation of the way her name is pronounced in the Chinese language.

And Si Ling-Chi herself not only founded an industry, but she became honored as the Goddess of Silk , and is still worshipped today. Search Query Show Search. Show Search Search Query. Play Live Radio. Next Up:. Available On Air Stations. The Silk Road is so named because it was the trading route from China to Rome, where silk cloth was one of the key trade items.

But another woman helped to break the silk monopoly. About C. She wanted, the legend says, to have silk fabric easily available in her new land. It was then only a few more centuries until the secrets had been revealed to Byzantium, and in another century, silk production began in France, Spain, and Italy.

In another legend , told by Procopius, monks smuggled Chinese silkworms to the Roman Empire. This broke the Chinese monopoly on silk production. For her discovery of the silk-making process, the earlier empress is known as Xilingshi or Si Ling-chi, or Lady of the Silkworm , and is often identified as a goddess of silk-making.

The silkworm is a native to northern China. It is the larva, or caterpillar, stage of a fuzzy moth Bombyx. These caterpillars feed on mulberry leaves. In spinning a cocoon to encase itself for its transformation, the silkworm exudes a thread from its mouth and winds this around its body.

Some of these cocoons are preserved by the silk growers to produce new eggs and new larva and thus more cocoons. Most are boiled. The silk farmer unwinds the thread, often in a single very long piece of about to about meters or yards, and winds it onto a spool.

Then the silk thread is woven into a fabric, a warm and soft cloth. The cloth takes dyes of many colors including bright hues. The cloth is often woven with two or more threads twisted together for elasticity and strength. Archaeologists suggest that the Chinese were making silk cloth in the Longshan period, - BCE. Actively scan device characteristics for identification.

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