Our ancestors began to raise silkworms thousands of years ago.

The following is the history of sericulture in China:

Silkworm, native to natural mulberry, mainly eats mulberry leaves, so it is also called silkworm. Before sericulture, our ancestors knew how to reel silk with wild cocoons long ago. It is still difficult to determine when to start artificial sericulture. But as early as the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, the sericulture production in China had made great progress, which shows that the development of artificial sericulture was far before the Yin and Zhou Dynasties.

From ancient literature, we can see the direct records about sericulture. Xia, who reflected the production situation of Huaihe River and Yangtze River in late summer and early Yin Dynasty, said: "Mulberry is picked in March, and my concubine begins to silkworm." This means that in March of the summer calendar (April of the lunar calendar), mulberry trees will be pruned and women will start sericulture.

There are not only words such as silkworm, mulberry, silk and silks in the book of Yin Renjia, but also some complete Oracle Bone Inscriptions related to silk production. According to the research of Oracle Bone Inscriptions scientist Hu Houxuan, it is recorded in some Oracle Bone Inscriptions that it takes nine hexagrams to inspect silkworm affairs. It can be seen that sericulture was a very important production undertaking at that time. There are also records about the silkworm god and its worship in Oracle Bone Inscriptions. At that time, in order to raise silkworms well, people sacrificed silkworms with rich sacrifices such as cattle or sheep.

It is not the first time that archaeologists have found lifelike jade silkworms in tombs of Yin Ruins, such as the tombs in Anyang, Henan Province and the Shang Dynasty jade silkworms unearthed in Subutun, Shandong Province. Silkworms are often found as decorative patterns on bronzes in Shang Dynasty. All these show the important position of silkworm in people's minds at that time.

Many bronzes handed down from ancient times in the Yin Dynasty were accompanied by traces of silk or silk fragments. Through research, some silk fabrics reflect that there was already quite advanced silk weaving technology at that time; A large number of facts show that silk became more and more important in the social and economic life at that time and became the intermediate medium of commodity exchange. To produce a large number of silk products, only by developing artificial sericulture can we provide enough silk raw materials.

By the Zhou Dynasty, mulberry planting and sericulture had flourished in the vast areas of northern and southern China. Silk has become the main raw material of the ruling class at that time. Silkworm rearing and silk weaving are the main productive activities of women. There are many poems in The Book of Songs that mention sericulture. For example, "The Book of Songs, Wind and July": "The spring is beautiful, and Amin is ploughing. The woman took the basket and followed it. She likes to beg Sang Rou. " Beautiful spring, orioles singing. Women are carrying laundry baskets, walking along endless paths, picking tender mulberry for silkworms. This vividly depicts the labor scene of women picking mulberry and raising silkworms at that time.

Mulberry was planted on a large scale in the Zhou Dynasty. There is a poem in the Book of Songs between Feng Wei and Ten Mu, which says that "between ten mu, mulberry leaves are idle", which means: among the green trees in ten mu mulberry garden, how leisurely it is to pick mulberry leaves. This shows that mulberry trees have been planted in pieces in the Spring and Autumn Period, and a mulberry garden is as big as ten acres. Mulberry trees planted at that time were probably shrub type and arbor type. Now, we can also see the vivid images of ancient working women picking mulberry trees with baskets on bronzes during the Warring States period, and we can also see two kinds of mulberry trees planted at that time: trees and shrubs.

According to the book of songs, Zuo Zhuan, Yili and other ancient books, silkworms were not only kept indoors at that time, but also had special silkworm houses and equipment. These utensils include silkworm racks ("squares" or "hammers"), silkworm foils ("bends") and so on. It can be seen that in the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, China already had a set of mature mulberry planting and sericulture techniques.

The Warring States Period's "Several Articles on Guanzi Mountain Spring" said: "People who raise silkworms and make them disease-free will be given a catty of gold and eat eight stones directly. They are willing to listen to their words, but officials who go to Tibet have no branch." In other words, if someone is proficient in sericulture technology, can raise silkworms well and prevent diseases, please introduce their experience, give them gold and avoid military service. Indeed, the most experienced and knowledgeable people are the vast number of people engaged in production practice. Among them, there are many experts and experts in sericulture. In their long-term sericulture practice, they have constantly created inventions and accumulated extremely rich and valuable experience for sericulture in China and the world.

In ancient China, there were many books describing the techniques of mulberry planting and sericulture. It was mentioned in the Han Dynasty that there were works on sericulture in ancient China, such as Silkworm Law, Silkworm Book, Planting Trees and Hiding Fruits, etc. Unfortunately, these ancient books have been lost. However, since the Han Dynasty, there have been many ancient books about sericulture for more than 2,000 years, such as Xi Sheng Shu, Qi Yaomin Shu, Qin Guan Silkworm Shu, Gui Feng Shu, Guang Sang Shuo, Silkworm Collection, Wild Silkworm Record, Cocoon Roll and so on. These secretaries have accumulated rich experience in mulberry planting and sericulture of working people in China in past dynasties.

To develop sericulture, it is necessary to cultivate mulberry trees and develop mulberry gardens. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, people used spreading trees to breed mulberry trees. By the fifth century, during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, layering method had been applied to mulberry breeding. This method is described in Qi Min's Yaoyao. The layering method is to propagate new mulberry trees with mulberry branches, which shortens the growth time a lot compared with sowing. Since the Song and Yuan Dynasties, sericulture farmers in southern China have invented mulberry grafting technology, which is an advanced mulberry planting technology, rejuvenating and renewing old mulberry trees, preserving excellent mulberry characters, accelerating the propagation of mulberry seedlings and cultivating excellent varieties. They are of great significance and still play an important role in production.

Mulberry leaf is the main food of silkworm, and its quality is directly related to the health of silkworm and the quality of silk. China invented the technique of pruning mulberry trees very early. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, there were already low mulberry trees, which may be the kind of "ground mulberry" (Lusang) mentioned later. The Great Book of the Western Han Dynasty specifically talked about this cultivation method of mulberries: in the first year, mulberries were mixed with millet, and when mulberries grew as high as millet, they were cut off on the flat ground, and in the second year, mulberries grew new branches from the roots. Such mulberries are low and easy to pick and manage. More importantly, such mulberry branches are tender and fat, suitable for sericulture. Jia Sixie quoted agricultural proverbs in Qi Yao Min Shu, and made a positive evaluation of Rusang, saying: "Rusang is rich in cotton silk, saying that its mulberry is good, which saves labor and uses more." The famous Husang originated from Rusang. Since the Song Dynasty, people have introduced excellent mulberry species from the north to the south through grafting technology. After long-term practice, people gradually cultivated a new type of milk mulberry "Hu Sang" with the original local Jingsang as rootstock and milk mulberry as scion. The formation of Hu Sang greatly promoted the development of sericulture in China. With the continuous development and improvement of mulberry pruning technology, the mulberry tree shape is also changing, from "natural" to "Gao Qian", "medium-dry" and "low-dry", and from "no-fist" to "fist". Good quality mulberry leaves can only be produced on new branches. By pruning and cutting off old branches, the growth of new branches can be promoted The new branches absorbed a lot of water and nutrients, making the leaves thick and dark green, which not only increased the yield, but also improved the quality of the leaves, which was beneficial to sericulture production. This is also the unique creation of the ancient working people in China. /kloc-In the second half of the 9th century, the Japanese also cultivated mulberry trees into various forms according to Qi Yao Min Shu and other ancient books on sericulture.

Preparation of silkworm eggs is an important link in sericulture production. There is a record in the Book of Rites that "seeds bathe in Sichuan". It can be seen that as early as 2000 years ago, people already knew to wash the egg surface with clear water to protect silkworm eggs. Later, cinnabar solution, salt water, lime water and other drugs with disinfection function were developed to disinfect the surface of eggs. For example, the Southern Song Dynasty's "Chen Fang Nong Shu" records: "In spring, before birth, fine grinding cinnabar and warm bathing." This kind of bath near the hatching of silkworm eggs is of great significance to prevent silkworm diseases. Because the egg surface is disinfected by bathing, there will be no germs attacking silkworm ants (young silkworms) after hatching. We know that many germs, such as particulate pathogens and purulent viruses, are spread through the esophagus. When hatching, silkworm ants have to bite off part of the eggshell to hatch. If these germs are carried on the surface of eggs without disinfection, they are very susceptible to these diseases when biting the shell of silkworm ants.

At least 1400 years ago, silkworm farmers have paid attention to the selection of silkworm eggs. Qi Shu Yao Min said: "If you collect cocoon seeds, you must take those who live in clusters. It is thin near the top and not born near the bottom. " The ancients believed that seed selection had two meanings for sericulture: one was to eliminate the weak and sick silkworm eggs, and the other was to make the growth and development time and speed of the second generation silkworm consistent, which was convenient for feeding and management. Seed selection includes silkworm selection, cocoon selection, moth selection and egg selection. However, people did not completely include these four items when they first chose seeds. In Qi Shu Yao Min, it is only mentioned that the cocoons in "Min Cong" should be selected as seeds. Since the end of the Song Dynasty, people have further selected cocoon, moth and egg from various angles, such as cocoon quality, cocoon formation time and position, moth cocoon emergence time, moth health status and egg health status. In the Qing Dynasty, people paid more attention to selecting silkworms, knowing that only "silkworms are disease-free, and species are disease-free".

Through strict layer-by-layer seed selection, a large number of sick or weak silkworm eggs were eliminated, thus improving the physique of the second generation silkworm, enhancing the disease resistance, and at the same time preventing the transmission of particulate pathogenic insects and purulent viruses to future generations through embryos to some extent. As we know, the basic method to prevent the spread of microparticle disease put forward by French microbiologist Pasteur (1822- 1895) in the19th century is to cut off the embryo transmission route of microparticle disease and insect pests through strict seed selection.

The ancients also realized that the growth and development of silkworms were closely related to the surrounding environment. As early as the Qin and Han dynasties, people knew that proper high temperature and satiety were beneficial to the growth and development of silkworms and could shorten their age. On the other hand, it is not conducive to growth and development, and it is necessary to extend the silkworm age. Silkworm farmers in past dynasties attached great importance to controlling the environmental conditions of silkworm life. Qi Shu Zhi Sang Zhe Pian contains the method of igniting at the four corners of the silkworm house to adjust the temperature of the silkworm house. "a fire, uneven heat" "a few people wait, the heat will disappear" The book The Scholars at the end of Jin Dynasty and the beginning of Yuan Dynasty also suggested that the silkworm house should be warmer when the young silkworm was born, because the weather was still very cold. And after a long sleep, it must be cold, because it is already hot. "Wu Ben Shu Xin" said: "The wind and rain must always be measured day and night." Silkworms only wear light clothes and compare themselves with their bodies: "If they feel cold, the silkworms are cold, so add fire;" If you feel hot, your silkworm will be anxious, and you will extinguish the fire. "Under normal circumstances, the comfortable environment temperature of the human body is similar to the living temperature needed by silkworms, so it is basically reasonable to adjust the temperature of the silkworm room through the cold and hot feeling of the human body. In Wang Zhennong's book, it is recorded in detail that the silkworm room lights up, measures the temperature, rolls curtains for ventilation after sleeping, and puts a water tank at the door in summer to make a chill.

In the long-term sericulture production, ancient sericulture farmers in China have accumulated rich experience in silkworm disease control. They have taken many sanitary measures, supplemented medicines and isolated diseased silkworms to prevent the occurrence and spread of silkworm diseases.

In the 2nd century A.D., Cui Mang of the Eastern Han Dynasty said in the "Moon Order for Four People": "In March, Tomb-Sweeping Day ordered a silkworm concubine to treat the silkworm room, wipe the gaps and hold a hammer foil cage." That is to say, the silkworm house must be trimmed and cleaned before sericulture. In ancient times, fumigation was also invented to disinfect silkworm houses. These sanitary disinfection work before sericulture undoubtedly played a positive role in preventing silkworm diseases and insect pests. In addition, during the whole feeding process, silkworm excrement (silkworm excrement) should be removed in time, and silkworm utensils should be disinfected continuously. "Principles of Agriculture and Mulberry in Jin and Yuan Dynasties" said: "The bottom foil of the silkworm seat must be covered with two collars. After the silkworm ants are born, they roll out a collar at sunrise every day, bask in the sun, and then cover it on the bottom of the silkworm foil. Tomorrow, the bottom foil will be removed from the sun as before and replaced repeatedly. It is an economical and practical method to disinfect silkworm tools by sunlight.

Drug control of silkworm diseases includes drug feeding and drug inhalation. Drug supplementation has been used to prevent and treat silkworm diseases for more than 800 years. "A scholar must use it" says: "Muddle the falling mulberry leaves into powder" and "get rid of silkworm fever". Later books, such as Raising the Moon (A.D. 1633) and Secrets of Silkworm Breeding, also recorded that "licorice water", "garlic juice" and "soju" were sprayed on leaves to feed silkworms to prevent various silkworm diseases. Later, different prescriptions were put forward for different symptoms.

Since the Ming Dynasty, people have recognized some infectious silkworm diseases, such as purulent disease, soft disease and stiff disease, and know the measures to eliminate or isolate silkworm diseases to prevent the spread of silkworm diseases.

Silkworm myiasis is one of the main diseases in the history of sericulture in China. Myiasis is the result of parasitism of silkworm maggots. Flies were called "stinging insects" in ancient times. More than 2,000 years ago, Erya said that "the national insect is a sting", and Guo Pu of the Jin Dynasty noted: "Now it is called pupa insect". Pupa worm refers to this kind of worm parasitic on pupa. This parasitic phenomenon was clearly described in Yaya by Lu Dian in the late Southern Song Dynasty. He said an old saying, flies are like milk on silkworms, turning into maggots. Buried like flies. "It says here that cockroaches lay eggs on silkworms, and when they cocoon and pupate, they have become fly maggots. Through personal observation, Tan Zhenmo in Ming Dynasty further confirmed that the previous records were completely correct. He further pointed out that silkworm maggots and flies mostly occur in the second silkworm, and seven tenths of the second silkworm are parasitic. In ancient times, because the harm of silkworm flies was mainly in summer silkworm, with the increase of the proportion of summer silkworm, the harm of myiasis was paid more attention. Although people discovered myiasis a long time ago, there were few records about the prevention and control of silkworm maggots and flies in agricultural and mulberry works before the Song Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty, records were very common. In the early years of Yuan Dynasty, the book "Collection of Agriculture and Mulberry" compiled by the Department of Agriculture repeatedly mentioned the problems of raising summer silkworms and preventing flies. It quoted the "scholar's essentials" under the Silkworm Law in Summer and Autumn, saying: "Nowadays, raise hot silkworms, paste windows with paper to avoid flies, follow the trend of going back and forth ... or tie windows with curtains to cover flies. "In Wang Zhennong's book, there is a similar account:" There are summer silkworms and autumn silkworms. Summer silkworms should be cool from ants to old age, but avoid flies and insects. "This shows that in the Yuan Dynasty, people paid great attention to fly prevention in order to raise silkworms in summer and autumn.

There are many descriptions about myiasis and fly prevention in Ming and Qing works. Before Mo wrote Tan Zi Diao Insect, Huangfu Mi's New Biography of Xie Yi (A.D. 1582) also talked about "myiasis": "Silkworms are raised today, and flies also send eggs to silkworms. After a long time, its eggs become flies and come out of the hole. " Xu Guangqi also specially reminded sericulture farmers that "flies should be removed in summer and autumn" in "Agricultural Administration Encyclopedia: Sericulture". There is such a record in the Song Dynasty's "Heaven is clothing": "There are three kinds of people who harm silkworms: birds, rats and mosquitoes. Birds are not as harmful as cocoons, mosquitoes are not as early as silkworms, and rats are always harmful. " The "mosquito harm" mentioned here is the mistake of "fly harm", because mosquitoes do not cause harm in sericulture production, and there is only a saying in sericulture history that "flies do not harm silkworms early"

In the Qing Dynasty, the harm of myiasis aroused people's serious concern. During the Tongzhi period, Shen Bingcheng said in the book "Silkworm Collection": "The original silkworm is summer silkworm, also known as the second silkworm ... on the 22nd, it is old, and flying is the most taboo." Shen Bingcheng, a native of Zhejiang, lived in sericulture area and worked in Changzhou, Zhenjiang, Tongzhou and Haining in Qing Dynasty. He once advocated sericulture in Zhenjiang. He said that raising summer silkworms was "the most taboo for big flies", which was obviously based on the actual situation at that time. The adverb "zui" is here to attract people's special attention. Yu Yong also said in Introduction to Silkworm Mulberry (A.D. 1866 to 1874): "Silkworms are more afraid of flies. No matter how big or small, you bite it down until it becomes a cocoon, that is, there are maggots in the cocoon, and a small hole is bitten out, but the pupa is dead and no longer becomes a moth. Every three or four months, cockroaches rot and rot. " Yu Yong is a native of Wuxing, Zhejiang. Although his description is rough, it is also a conclusion drawn from practice and observation. He pointed out that silkworm chrysalis parasitized by fly maggots will die, and the rotting corpse of dead pupae will also pollute cocoon silk.

The most detailed description of the multi-sex silkworm maggot fly and its harm is the theory of sericulture written by Zhao Jingru (A.D. 1896). It is recorded in the book as follows: "There is also a kind of cannabis fly, which does not eat silkworms, but it is the most harmful. This kind of fly is different from common flies. Its wings are white, its whole body is covered with black hair, and its wings are wide and quite fierce. It is quite clever by nature and flies very hard. I can't stop flying every time, but I can fly right away. It's hard to catch. When it came, it laid a white egg in the silkworm, as thin as a clam. The next day, the spawning place turned black, and its maggots had entered the silkworm body, eating silkworm meat at the silk material in the skin. On June 7, the maggot was old, with two black teeth in his mouth and slight pain in his hand. Silkworms can still cocoon because they don't hurt silk materials. Maggots always come out of cocoons by two black teeth, forming small holes, which means eating cocoons. Worm-eaten silk is unbearable. A maggot turns into a pupa with a red shell in one day. 1February 13, it appeared as a white cannabis fly. Fortunately, after two or three sleeps, the weather is still cold and there are not many flies. There are so many flies in warm weather that there is no way to drive them away. When you get maggots at the beginning of sleep, you will die like a cocoon. Therefore, summer silkworms don't avoid this fly, and silkworms have no species. " This record describes in detail the morphology and living habits of silkworm maggots and flies. As Zou pointed out in the history of entomology in China, Zhao Jingru's careful observation and description of silkworm maggots and flies in the theory of sericulture may have accepted the scientific methods of modern western countries. This further proves that the records of silkworm myiasis in ancient books in China are basically correct.

Silkworm has undergone long-term breeding and selection, and its morphology has changed greatly, forming various types of varieties in various historical periods and regions. During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, although the three-dormancy silkworm was mainly bred in the north of China, the four-dormancy silkworm was mainly bred in the south. The disease resistance of three-dormancy silkworm is stronger than that of four-dormancy silkworm, and it is easy to raise. But from the point of view of silk growth, the cocoon silk of four-dormancy silkworm is better than that of three-dormancy silkworm. After long-term cultivation, the four-sleeping silkworm has been successfully raised in Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces in southern China, and many excellent varieties have been cultivated. The successful breeding and popularization of hard-to-raise four-dormancy silkworms is a great progress in sericulture production.

In order to develop silk production in ancient China, in addition to raising spring silkworms, summer silkworms, autumn silkworms and even many batches of silkworms were raised every year. As early as in the book Zhou Li, the "original silkworm" has been mentioned, and "original" means "again". The original silkworm is the silkworm reared for the second time in a year, that is, the summer silkworm. In Lin Yi written by Jiao Gan (Yanshou) in Han Dynasty, there is a record that "autumn silkworms decline and winter silkworms are not born". But at that time, people raised not only summer silkworms, but also autumn silkworms and winter silkworms. In order to raise many batches of silkworms in one year, the ancients not only used diversity to spread seeds naturally, but also invented the method of low-temperature greening to make original seeds more than 600 years ago. This method is to use low temperature to inhibit the eggs of a hermaphrodite silkworm and delay its hatching. In this way, a silkworm can hatch several generations in a year, which creates favorable conditions for raising silkworms in batches within one year. This is another great creation of sericulture production technology in ancient China. Using artificial low temperature to produce original seeds fully embodies the intelligence of ancient people in China. Before the invention of artificial incubation, in order to raise many batches of silkworms in one year, people could only use natural multi-sex silkworms to spread seeds. However, the quantity and quality of cocoon silk produced by multi-sex silkworm are far less than that of bisexual silkworm. It creates favorable conditions for raising silkworms in batches many times a year. This is another great creation of sericulture production technology in ancient China. Using artificial low temperature to produce original seeds fully embodies the intelligence of ancient people in China. Before the invention of artificial incubation, in order to raise many batches of silkworms in one year, people could only use natural multi-species silkworms to spread seeds. However, the quantity and quality of cocoon silk produced by multi-sex silkworm are far less than that of bisexual silkworm. In order to raise silkworms in batches many times a year and get more and better cocoons, our ancestors creatively adopted artificial low-temperature green-promoting bivalent silkworms, so that several batches of silkworms were hatched in one year. At the same time, under the influence of natural high temperature, the eggs laid by each batch of this silkworm are hatched, so as to obtain each batch of over-aged silkworm. Although the eggs laid by this silkworm will not hatch until next spring, they are still welcomed by silkworm farmers because of their good quality. This not only solves the problem of raising silkworms for many times, but also gets better silk as much as possible.

Especially in the Ming Dynasty, silkworm farmers discovered the heterosis of silkworm in the production of summer silkworm eggs. In the Ming Dynasty, Song said in Heavenly Creations: "There are two kinds of silkworms: early silkworms and late silkworms. Late-maturing species are planted five or six days early every year, and their cocoons are also borne first, and their cocoons are half as light. " He also said: "Today, some people in the cold family pair early males with late females, and they produce a good species and a different species." The "early planting" mentioned in "Nature of Heaven" is a kind of silkworm, and "late planting" is a kind of silkworm. Therefore, the so-called "early male and late female" is a hybrid of hermaphrodite male silkworm and bisexual female silkworm. According to the modern silkworm hybridization experiment, the hybrid produced by "early male and late female" is binary, so it can be preserved as summer silkworm eggs in summer. " Tiangong Kaiwu pointed out that "early males and late females" appeared "fine varieties" and produced excellent hybrids. This is the earliest record about the utilization of silkworm heterosis in the world.

China is also the largest producer of tussah silk in the world.

Tussah, also known as mountain silkworm or wild silkworm. It mainly eats oak leaves. Shandong Peninsula is the birthplace of stocking tussah. People there have long used tussah cocoon silk. According to ancient records, as early as the 4th year of Emperor Yong of the Han and Yuan Dynasties (40 BC), people in Penglai and Yexian of Shandong had harvested wild tussah cocoons and made them into silk floss. Later, people gradually learned to weave with tussah cocoon silk. By the Ming Dynasty, weaving with tussah silk was very popular all over the country.

By the Ming Dynasty, Shandong sericulture farmers had a set of mature methods for stocking tussah. In the Qing Dynasty, Sun Tingquan of Yidu, Shandong Province also wrote a book "On Mountain Silkworm", which specifically introduced the technology of stocking tussah. According to the book, tussah was stocked everywhere in the mountainous area of Jiaodong at that time. Soon, the stocking of tussah gradually spread to other parts of China, and it first spread to Liaodong Peninsula, which faces Shandong across the sea. It has gradually become the second center for stocking tussah in China. Then the method of stocking tussah was spread to Henan and Shaanxi, and later it was extended to Yunnan and Guizhou.

In all sericulture countries in the world, the original silkworm eggs and sericulture methods were directly or indirectly transmitted from China.

North Korea is a close neighbor of China, and the two peoples have had close contacts for a long time. According to ancient records, China's silkworm eggs and silkworm rearing methods had spread to North Korea as early as 1 1 century BC. Japanese sericulture method is said to have been passed down from China during Qin Shihuang's reign. Later, I sent people to China and North Korea many times, or recruited Japanese technicians to spread experience in Japan, so as to promote the development of sericulture. Until modern times, Japanese imported excellent silkworm varieties and advanced mulberry planting techniques from China.

Beautiful silk produced by working people in ancient China has been continuously transported to Persia and Rome for a long time. In the third year of the Western Han Dynasty (BC 138), Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty sent Zhang Qian to the Western Regions and reached Central Asia as far as possible. Generally speaking, China's ancient silk traveled from the northern foot of Kunlun Mountain or the southern foot of Tianshan Mountain to the west through the Green Ridge (Pamir), through Central Asia, and then transported to Persia, Rome and other countries. This is the world-famous "Silk Road". Later, silkworm eggs and sericulture methods first spread from the mainland to Xinjiang, and then from Xinjiang to Arabia, Africa and Europe via the "Silk Road".

In the 7th century, sericulture spread to Arabia and Egypt. /kloc-spread to Spain in the 0/0 century. 1 1 century spread to Italy. /kloc-In the 5th century, silkworm eggs and mulberry seeds were brought to France, and sericulture and silk weaving began in France. Britain saw that sericulture in France was profitable, so it followed France's example and sericulture production spread from France to Britain.

In America, it is said that Mexico had raised silkworms in the middle of16th century, but it was not until17th century that large-scale sericulture production developed in America. At that time, the British colonists thought that their American colonies had suitable climate and fertile land, and it was profitable to develop sericulture, so they conducted large-scale sericulture experiments in American colonies.