Silk road introduction Chapter Production of silk fabrics about silk production Dyeing of silk fabrics

2.3 Development of silk production in China

Zhangguo era

Based on information from the "Book of Songs" and the section "Gifts to Yu " from the "Book of Documents", it is possible to determine the main sericulture areas at the end of the first half of the 1st millennium BC. Mentions of mulberry trees and silk fabrics are contained in many poems, as well as in "Big Odes" and "Small Odes". The identification of geographical names in these songs with modern ones allows us to outline the area included the west of the modern province Shandong , northern Henan , southern Hebei , central Shanxi and Wei river valley in Shanxi . Among the main sericulture centers of ancient China, in addition to the areas mentioned in the "Book of Songs" and "Gifts of Yuyu ", the Shu region (in the territory of modern Sichuan province) also belongs.
If smooth silk fabrics in China during the Zhangguo period were produced everywhere, then ornamented ones were made mainly in palace workshops serving the ruler and his entourage. Craftsmen, who were in state-owned workshops, owned professional secrets passed down from generation to generation, and their work was highly valued.
According to the " Zhou rites", along with weavers and embroiderers, tailors, dyers, and collectors of plants used for dyeing fabrics were at the courts. Craftsmen serving the princely courts produced highly artistic fabrics, which became known to us thanks to excavations. At the end of the Zhangguo period , private ones also appeared, producing artistic fabrics for sale.
Han period.
The first information about the silk-producing centers of the Han era can be found in the section " Biographies of those who accumulated wealth" in "Shi chi ", a work by Sima Qiang . Syma Qian divides Han China in the middle of the 2nd century BC. BC. into four economic regions: Shanxi ("west of the Mountains"), Shandong ("east of the Mountains"), Jiangnan ("south of the Mountains") and the area north of Longmen and Jie - and lists the products produced there, moreover, the production of silk connects only with the Shandong region. According to the "Discussions on Salt and Iron", written during the reign of Emperor Zhao-di (86-73 BC), the areas producing silk were the west and north of the modern Shandong province , most of Henan and Hubei . The main center of polychrome fabrics was Xianyi , located on the territory of the kingdom of Qi ( Chengliu and Lingxi region , currently Sui County, Henan Province .
In the Han era , the historical process of spreading sericulture to neighboring territories begins. In "Biography of Liu Bana " in Hou Hin Shu contains his report to Emperor Mingdi ( 58-46 AD), where, in particular, it is said that at present in the district of Bingjianghu (the lower reaches of the Yamtsy , modern Anhui province ) the population mostly engaged in sericulture and cultivation of mulberry trees. In the Eastern Han period , sericulture is also observed to the north of the Huang He ( Henei ). The significant development of sericulture and silk weaving in the region of the capital of the empire - Luoyang is evidenced by the Monthly prescriptions for the four estates; written in the 2nd century AD Luoyang official and farmer Cui Ti . The "Regulations" give detailed descriptions of the necessary work for the cultivation of grena, as well as for the preparation of threads for fabric, the manufacture of textiles , etc.
As the study of Nunome and other Japanese specialists shows, in the I-II centuries. AD The population of Lolan , located in what is now North Korea, was already breeding silkworms . During the excavation of graves in Jiaguguan ( Gansu Province ), dated from the 3rd to the beginning of the 4th century, in addition to silk fabrics, a large number of painted bricks with scenes related to sericulture and silk weaving were found. During excavations in Yangao ( Shanxi Province ), silk fabrics and jade figures of silk cocoons were discovered.
By the end of the Han era , silk production in Northern China increased significantly.
A significant part of the ornaments of silk fabrics in the Han Empire was produced in special workshops and went to the needs of the court. After the formation of the Han Empire with its capital in Cang'an Khim, a palace weaving workshop was established. After the formation of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the transfer of the capital to Luoyang , a palace weaving workshop was established there , similar to the one in Cang'an . The first information about it dates back to the reign of Guan - udi (25-27 AD). This workshop produced polychrome fabrics, embroideries, damask, fleur, gauze fabrics. The houses of the nobility in the Han period had their own workshops, copying, of course, on a smaller scale, the imperial ones. Such was the workshop in Zhang's house Anshi . It is known from sources that there were workshops that produced patterned fabrics specifically for sale.
The result of the spread of sericulture in new territories, the improvement of technological processes, and the increase in labor productivity was a significant increase in silk production. According to the Han Shu in 107 B.C. the government collected from the population as taxes 24 million square meters. meters of silk fabric. From the comparison of prices, we can conclude that the price of silk on the western border of the Han Empire was 4-6 times higher than in the markets of the capital. Thus, the texts on wooden boards found in the ruined military settlements make it possible to trace the process of the appreciation of silk at the first stage of its transportation along the Silk Road - to the borders of the Han Empire: the regions of Euzin -gol and Dunhuang . At the end point of the Silk Road - Rome - the price of silk increased many times (3 times more expensive than gold).
six dynasties
With the death of the Han Empire, China entered a turbulent and unstable period that lasted more than three and a half centuries, called the era of the Three Kingdoms and Six Dynasties in Chinese historiography.
Severe internecine wars and invasions of foreigners led to a significant reduction in the population, the collapse of economic ties and the destruction of production in vast territories, and in particular to the extinction of the ancient silk-weaving regions of Xianyi and Chenliu . There is no more mention of them in written sources. The Shu region becomes the main center for the production of highly artistic silk products. Sericulture developed in Ba , Bash, Jianyang and Yongchang counties . The main center for the production of polychrome fabrics in post-Han China was the capital of the state Shu-Chengdu. The western part of Chengdu was called the "Brass City", there were many workshops that made polychrome and other highly artistic fabrics. A vivid description of the "Brass City" is contained in Zuo's "Ode on the Capital of Shu " Sy : “On the market rows there are houses of skilled craftsmen. Though the houses are scattered, the looms ring in harmony. After the polychrome fabrics with delicate shell patterns are made, they are washed in the river to brighten up the coloring. A basket of manufactured fabrics is worth more than a box of gold.”
Shu fabrics were famous all over China at that time, and they were tried to be copied. Merchants from separate places came for Shu fabrics. Along the Silk Road, Shu fabrics penetrated far to the west. In the history of the Jin dynasty (265-420) - " Jin shu" there is information about the trade of Chinese merchants on the southern segment of the ancient Western Meridional Route - from Liangzhou ( Wuwei ) through Liangzhou ( Shaanxi Province ) and Yizhou (Chengdu) to Jiangkang ( Naikin ). The connections of the Turfan oasis with the Shu region and with the silk-weaving centers of Northern China are reported by a document discovered by the Otani expedition and dated to the early Tang period. The document mentions small-sized smooth boiled silk fabrics from Cizhou ( Tainian County , Sichuan Province), as well as coarse unboiled fabrics from Henanfu ( Layang City , Henan Province ), coarse fabrics from Puzhou ( Yongji County , Shanxi Province ) and Shenzhou (County Shaanxi , Henan Province .
During the period of the Northern and Southern dynasties, the centers of sericulture were located in Northern China. In Southern China, preference was given to making fabrics from hemp, lashi and other plant fibers. After the collapse of the Han Empire into three kingdoms, weaving workshops were established in each of them, copying the Han Zhimi workshops to serve the court. Weaving workshops also existed at the courts of the rulers of both the Northern and Southern dynasties. According to Lu Hui's Notes on the Capital Ye, which tells about the activities of a native of the people Jie Shi Hu (335-349), the ruler of the state. Later, Zhao (319-352), while doing grandiose construction in the Ye capital, set up a special department for the production of polychrome fabrics and zhicheng fabrics , which employed several hundred weavers. The enumeration in the text of patterns of fabrics made in those workshops is a very important source for the study of woven ornament in the first centuries of our era. There were also palace weaving workshops in Pingchen (Datong County, Shanxi Province ) - the capital of Northern Wei . According to Nan Qi Shu”, at the time of Tai-udi ( 424-452), more than a thousand weavers worked in them, who “made damask and polychrome fabrics”. china sericulture trade
An important event in the history of Chinese sericulture was the improvement in the 4th century. the largest scientist of ancient China, Ma Juan loom for patterned fabrics. This improvement led to a reduction in the number of shafts (from 50-60 to 12) and, apparently, was associated with the division of labor of persons servicing the machine, which was preserved on machines for patterned fabrics of a later time.
Information about the price of silk in the era of the Six Dynasties is very scarce. This can be partly explained by the fact that in that historical period, saturated with warriors, changes of dynasties and foreign invasions, the role of money is significantly reduced and barter is established.
Tang era .
In the Tang era - the period of the existence of a powerful centralized empire and rapid economic growth - there is a significant change in sericulture and silk weaving. An important place in the Tang Empire was occupied by state-owned craft: casting coins, making weapons and agricultural implements, smelting copper and iron, paper production and, of course, sericulture. The management of these crafts was carried out by special departments, each of which was in charge of a number of workshops with a high degree of specialization. At the end of VI - beginning of VII century. China's main silk-weaving centers were located in the modern provinces of Henan , Hebei , Shandong , and Sichuan. In Liangzhou ( Shaanxi -Sichuan Province) damask and polychrome fabrics were produced, in Qingzhou ( Shandong Province ) textiles and embroidery were made, in Jingzhou ( Hunan-ebei Province ) and Yangchengou ( Jiangsu Province ) yarn manufacturing flourished.
After the establishment of the Tang dynasty in the capital of Chang'an , palace weaving workshops were established, called the "Department of Weaving and Dyeing" and under the jurisdiction of the Shaofujun administration . Initially, the workshops produced ceremonial headdresses for the court, later they began to make silk fabrics, dye them, and produce polychrome silk fabrics. Special workshops were engaged in the collection of dyes: flowers, leaves, bark and roots of plants at the appropriate time of the year. The Department of Weaving and Dyeing included ten weaving, four spinning and eight dyeing workshops. In addition to them, at the court there were ten workshops for managing side chambers, that is, a harem. These workshops produced fabrics, including polychrome ones. The department of Shanggun also had a Department of Patterned Fabrics, which, along with sewing clothes, making embroideries, silk and hemp threads, and patterned fabrics, was in charge of gifts from foreigners. State weaving workshops operated in provincial centers and districts. There is very little data on their survival. The composition of the workers in the workshops was heterogeneous, some were serving temporary government service there (the so-called shift or short-term masters). Work in government workshops involved learning more advanced techniques, which were subsequently applied in practice by masters upon returning to their homeland. Experienced craftsmen also worked in state-owned workshops, who were hired for a certain period. The professional secrets of private craftsmen have been passed down from generation to generation.
The main center of patterned fabrics in Northern China was Dingchekou County . ( Dingxiang County , Hebei Province ). There, thin damask, damask fabrics with benevolent ornaments and checkered patterns were produced for the court. It was followed by the Qingzhou district ( Idu county ), where kamki with patterns based on Das motifs were made. In Tang China, polychrome fabrics from Yangzhou were famous . There were also widely known South Chinese Liao damask fabrics.
Information about taxes received by the state treasury from various regions and districts of the Tang Empire gives an idea of the enormous scale of silk production in the country. Thus, during the reign under the motto of Tian-bao (742-755), the treasury received 7,400 thousand pieces of smooth silk fabrics annually as a tax in kind from the population, which is 46,400 thousand square meters. m of fabric, as well as 1850 thousand guni (one gun is equal to 223.8 g) of silk threads. The tax in kind consisted mainly of smooth fabrics, silk threads and silk wadding.
Not much is known about silk prices in the first century of the Tang Empire. After the new dynasty came to power, prices stabilized, and in 626 in Chang'an a piece of silk taffeta cost 300-400 coins, which corresponded to the price of ten dans of millet. The gap in silk prices between the capital and the western periphery decreased significantly during the Tang era . This can be explained by the fact that if on the wooden tablets from Juyang the prices for silk in the initial period of trade activity on the Silk Road appear, exceeding the capital ones by 6-7 times, then in the texts of Turfan and Dunhuang the prices of the heyday of trade are reported. In addition, by the Tang time, the Chinese monopoly on silk was lost, other sericulture centers appeared, which naturally caused a drop in prices for Chinese silk in the Central Asian markets.

2.4 Spread of sericulture to the West

Great efforts have been expended to ferret out the secret of silk production. There is a well-known legend about how it arose in Khotan (modern Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region). The local ruler could not get the initial data and the method of making the coveted material in any way. Then, on the advice of his minister named Yuchi Nu, he decided to cheat and woo a Chinese princess. When the proposal was accepted, the envoy of the ruler of Khotyn whispered to the princess that in the homeland of her future husband there is a lot of excellent jade, but there is no fine silk, and if she wants to wear the same beautiful clothes as before the wedding, she should bring silkworm eggs with her and mulberry seed. It is difficult to assume that the girl was overcome by painful doubts: to give out or not to give out a state secret. She brought everything that was required to Khotan , hiding the eggs in an intricate hairstyle, which the border guards did not have the right to inspect, and the necessary seeds in luggage with all kinds of herbs and potions.

The most interesting thing is that the enterprising bride thought much bigger than her fiancé and took with her, under the guise of domestic servants, specialists in silkworm breeding, growing mulberries and sericulture. Raw materials and technology for silk production, smuggled into Khotan , soon ended up in other states to the west of China, became widespread in India, etc.
According to another legend, in 550 the Byzantine emperor Justinian persuaded two monks to bring him precious silkworm eggs from China. The monks hid them in a hollow bamboo stick. They were threatened with the death penalty if the Chinese knew about it. Whether it all really happened is hard to say, but for centuries a carefully guarded secret was finally revealed.
The first information from Chinese sources about the advancement of sericulture culture from China proper to the West dates back to the 1st-2nd centuries. AD and are connected with the oasis Yiwu ( Khashi ) - the easternmost in the chain of oases of East Turkestan.
The main feature of these fabrics is, first of all, that they are not made from threads unwound from a mulberry cocoon, but from threads obtained from cocoons abandoned by moths. As a result, the threads have a strong twist and uneven thickness. In the manufacture of artistic silk fabrics, East Turkestan craftsmen, however, did not adopt the ancient Chinese technique of making patterns with the help of a warp. Another feature can be considered a small, compared with Chinese, thread density. From Eastern Turkestan in the 5th c. sericulture reaches Merv , and from there, by the end of the 5th - beginning of the 6th c. penetrates into Southern Iran (region off the southeastern coast of the Caspian Sea). The culture of sericulture and silk weaving spread along the entire length of the Silk Road. So the culture of sericulture penetrated into Byzantium.
The process of spreading sericulture among the northern and western neighbors of the Chinese continued into the post-Khan period. During the spread of sericulture to the West, i.e. on III-IV centuries. Northern China was in a state of political and economic chaos. Ephemeral non-Chinese and Chinese dynasties continuously replaced each other on its territory. Naturally, under such conditions, the protection of sericulture as a “state secret” was out of the question.