Sericulture is the technical term for the silk industry in all its forms -- farming, harvesting, spinning, and weaving.
According to Chinese legend, the Queen of Sericulture Lei Zu, who was said to be the queen of the Yellow Emperor, started the sericulture industry. She was first mentioned inShiji(Records of the Grand Historian) written by the well-known historian Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty (206BC-8AD). In the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368), the agricultural book by Wang Zhen, quoting theHuainan Wang's Book on Silkworm, said that Xiling Shi (queen of the Yellow Emperor) started the sericulture industry. Later, in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), more books added new information to the legend of Lei Zu.
Today, much of the historical records on how she invented sericulture are lost, but legend has it that Lei Zu got the idea all from a ruined cup of tea: when drinking a cup of tea one day, she accidentally dropped a silkworm cocoon into the hot water. When she pulled it out, it had dissolved into a mass of long, smooth strands. Lei Zu then had the brilliant idea of trying to spin the fibers -- and thus, sericulture was born.
It is hard to say how much fact there is behind the legend, but Chinese now regard Lei Zu as the initiator ofChina's textile industry.
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