Silk is probably one of the most prominent parts of Chinese history. There are clear reasons as to why silk is known as the Queen of Fibers.

Silk has a smooth, shiny texture, and is one of the strongest fabrics once is it woven into cloth. Its elastic and lightweight properties and its ability to be warmer than rayon, cotton, or linen make it very economical. It'll hold dyes and colors to a rich extent, and won't wrinkle easily. Silk is used for men and women's clothing as well as upholstery. It's often associated as the cloth of rich, or elite. Everyone wants silk.

There are two types of silk: cultivated and wild (tussah) silk. Cultivated silk is often shinier and easier to bleach. Silkworms are raised in order to create this silk. The silkworms are carefully tended to in order to produce the highest quality silk. They spin their cocoons for three days and then rest as pupae. While they are going through metamorphosis, most of the worms are killed off for the cocoons before they hatch and break all of the fibers, while some of them are allowed life for reproduction. After the cocoons are collected, the fibers are separated and reeled, then thrown (throwing the fibers mean twisting and adding fibers together for thicker threads), then boiled off to remove the natural sericin. Boiling removes 25% of the weight, so the fibers are weighted with minerals to add weight. From there, they are dyed and woven into cloth. There are douppioni threads, which are double-threaded, and then spun silk, which is like yarn. Tussah silk is usually blended with other fibers or used as a filler fabric.

China is the #1 silk producer in the world. Besides, China did invent silk. According to legend, silk was invented in 2700 BC by the wife of Emperor Huangdi, Xilingshi, when she was ordered to see why the mulberry trees in the garden were damaged. In going back there, she found silkworms and their cocoons, although she had no idea what they were. She accidentally dropped one in hot water, and while she attempted to take it back out, she drew out a single slender silk thread. Xilingshi knew the capabilities of this discovery, and thus entreated for her husband to allow her a mulberry grove for the production of the worms and their silk. From there, she supposedly invented the silk reel for the junction of threads. Legend also says that she invented the silk loom as well.

Silk soon became a trade item for China. China traded silks with the West, from the Han dynasty near 200 BC, which was one of the most dominant dynasties of China, when culture burgeoned. Camel caravans traveled to Damascus, a meeting marketplace of the West and East. Silk was such a great trade item for China because of its great quality, and no one else knew how to make it. The Chinese weren't allowed to disclose their secret or else they'd have to face death. It was like extortion.

The Silk Road is one of the more well-known trade routes of the Middle East and Central Asia. It stretched 5,000 from China to Europe and was used during the 100's BC to the AD 1500's, and especially when Mongols ruled Central Asia and China.

Persia was one of the biggest silk-purchasers. It would sell the silk for ridiculous prices. Emperor Justinian I was tired of Persia's high price monopolizing, and so he sent monks to China to find out more about the "strange worms" in opposition of the prices. They came back with the smuggled worms, thus ending China's 3,000-year-old secret. From then on, other countries started producing silk. The Muslims traded with Spain and Sicily in the 800's-900's. Italy's turn came in the 1200's, and France's in the 1500's. Later, England became one of Europe's main silk producers, and the U.S. set up a factory in Connecticut in 1810.

Silk is also used for painting as well. The ability to resist paint running makes it a good canvas. Today, silk is used for novel effects on cloth, mixed with natural and synthetic fibers to create different kinds of cloths.