silk (road)

silk (road), originally uploaded by china.sixty4.

Multi-colored 'classically designed silk hangs on wooden hangers in a small "nong tang" (alley) in central Beijing.

Its discovery as a weavable fibre is credited to the Lady Xi Ling Shi, the 14 year old bride of the Emperor Huang Ti, the so-called 'Yellow Emperor'.The Chinese had a global monopoly on silk production for nearly three thousand years. Travelers were searched thoroughly at border crossings and anyone caught trying to smuggle eggs, cocoons or silkworms out of the country were summarily executed. Demand for this exotic fabric eventually created the lucrative trade route now known as the 'Silk Road,' of which mention is made as early as 300BC in the days of the Han Dynasty, taking silk westward and bringing gold, silver and wools to the East.