Ancient China

1. Ancient China Trade and Commodities

2. Silk Culture • Legendary Beginnings • Lady His-Ling-Shih (wife of Yellow Emperor) began raising silk worms and invented the loom (believed to have reigned approx. 3000 BC) • Excavated silkworm cocoon dated between 2600 to 2300BC • Other evidence suggests silk cultivation began much earlier

3. Silk Culture • The worm • Many varieties throughout the world • Chinese species is blind, flightless • Lays 500 eggs in 4-6 days • 100 eggs weigh less than 1 gram • Silk worm has a smoother, finer filament than other species

4. Silk Culture • Secrets of Cultivation (sericulture) • Need to be carefully changed from 65 to 77 degrees to hatch • Baby worms are feed night and day until they are plump • Roomful of worms have to be kept at a constant temperature – sounds like heavy rain falling in the roof • Have to be kept warm when cocooning and isolated from noises and smells • Produce white fluffy looking cocoons • After 8 days in a warm place, worms are steamed/baked to kill the worms

5. Silk Culture • Cultivation • Entire process of feeding to weaving takes 6 months • Dip puff balls in water to loosen filaments • Unwind filaments onto a spool • One cocoon is between 600-700 meters long • 5-8 filaments are twisted together to make thread • Considered part of household duties for women

6. Silk Culture • Product • Clothes are light weight • Warm in winter • Cool in summer • Silk Privilege • First – reserved only for emperor and family • Wore robe of white inside palace, yellow outside (color of the earth) • Other classes began wearing silk • Silk developed as an industrial product • Instruments, fishing lines, bowstrings, paper

7. Silk Culture • Tribute paid in rice and silk • Currency – items were priced in lengths of silk • Lost monopoly in 200 AD when Chinese immigrants began to move to Korea • West gained sericulture in 550AD when two monks appeared in Justinian’s court with eggs in hollowed staffs • Silk Road • Precious commodity to foreigners • Traders traveled the silk road overland – for months at a time – to get silk • Important artifacts found along the Silk Road

8. Rice Culture • History • Chinese have been cultivating rice for thousands of years • Strong dependence and work put into rice added to strong rural essence • Chinese culture can be called ‘rice culture’ • Hunters and gathers left seeds in low-laying areas and developed system of rice farming • Originated in Yellow (Huang He) and Hanshui basins • Large areas of land viable for rice planting

9. Rice Culture • Evidence of rice farming as long as 3 to 4 thousand years • Widely accepted by Zhou dynasty (1100-771BC) • By Han dynasty, rice was a staple (260BC-220AD) • Developments • Complicated irrigation techniques were required for farming • Year round – ploughing spring, weeding in summer, harvesting in autumn, hoarding in spring • Used to brew wine and offer as sacrifices to gods and ancestors

10. Rice Culture • Central part of Spring Festival – lunar new year • Gao – specialty rice used for celebrations • Rice dumplings made on 15th night of the 1st lunar month – for luck • Throw rice in river 5th day of 5th month to prevent fish from eating the body of legendary leader Qu Yuan (Chu official) • 9th day of 9th month eat double 9 festival cakes • 8th day of 12th month people eat porridge with rice, beans, nuts, and dried fruit • Believed that Sakyamuni achieved Buddha-hood on this day