China silk is famous all over the world. As early as BC, it spread by sea and land. Scholars at home and abroad have made a lot of achievements in the study of the "Silk Road" on land, but the spread and influence of China silk at sea and its important position in cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries have not been systematically studied.
In fact, in history, China's silk spread abroad by sea, which lasted longer than land, reached a wider area and had a greater impact. These problems deserve our discussion and study. What I'm talking about is the following immature views of my personal preliminary research.
Ships sailing from the East China Sea (now the Yellow Sea) mainly sailed to North Korea and Japan. According to historical records, as early as BC 1 165438, when Zhou Wuwang named Ji Zi as North Korea, he "taught him to weave silkworms in his own field". In A.D. 199, silkworm eggs from China were introduced to Japan. In 238 A.D., the Japanese queen Jimiko sent an envoy to China to present gifts, and Wei Mingdi returned exquisite silks.
This is the earliest document that China silk was introduced into Japan as a gift from the Emperor. During the Southern Dynasties, China sent four female silk weavers and tailors to teach Japanese skills. They greatly promoted the development of Japanese silk industry.
China ships set sail from the South China Sea. In BC 140-87, they took a lot of gold and silk products, passed through Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Myanmar, and sailed to Huangzhiguo (now Kangqipu, India) to exchange the specialties of these countries, and then returned from Sri Lanka. In this way, as early as BC, China silk was introduced to these countries.
With the increasing political influence of China and the great attraction of China's exquisite silk to all parts of the world, countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia and even West Asia and Europe have sent envoys to China to provide gifts for silk and trade exchanges.
For example, according to the records of the later Han Dynasty, A.D. 13 1, today's Java (the then Ye Diaoguo), 159 and 16 1, today's India (then Tianzhu) and 97, 120. This is another way for China silk to be introduced into Indonesia, India and Myanmar today, and then spread to European Daqin (Rome) through Myanmar.