Archaeological findings show that the development of sericulture and silk weaving was quite common in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. At the same time, there are sericulture and silk weaving industries in Shu, Chu and Wu Yue countries in the Yangtze River valley.
By the Qin and Han dynasties, sericulture and silk weaving had further developed all over the country, and several major silk producing areas, such as Qilu area, Henan area, the hometown of Chu State and Chengdu Plain, had been formed one after another.
Since Wei and Jin Dynasties, the strengthening of economic and cultural exchanges between North and South has led to the expansion of mulberry planting area. At the end of the Eastern Jin Dynasty, Mr. Murong, the secretariat of Pingzhou, asked the imperial court to plant mulberry, so he began to plant mulberry in the Liaohe River Basin. During the Northern Wei Dynasty, mulberry trees were distributed in Yanshui Valley and Yellow River sandbar in Yinchuan Plain. Yanshui, the later Yanghe River, is one of the two tributaries in the upper reaches of Sanggan River, belonging to Haihe River basin.
After the Eastern Han Dynasty, mulberry planting not only raised silkworms, but also solved the problem of hunger. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and Liu Bei all used mulberries as military food, but mainly raised silkworms. For example, a large number of mulberry trees are planted in Hebei, and the silk industry is also very developed.
The main producing areas of silk products in Tang Dynasty were Hebei, Henan, Jiangnan and Jiannan. Generally speaking, it is the three provinces of Hebei, Henan and Shandong and the areas of Jiangsu and Anhui in the Huaihe River Basin. In addition, Dingzhou mainly produces silk and Yuezhou Lincheng mainly produces silk. Yangzhou takes brocade robes and quilts as tributes, while Yuezhou is famous for producing twill, yarn and other silk products.
The gradual rise of silk weaving industry in the south in the late Tang Dynasty was related to the spread of advanced technology from the north to the south. Guanzhong and Hedong areas, which had developed sericulture in the pre-Qin period, gradually declined since the Tang Dynasty. After the Song Dynasty, sericulture in the Yangtze River valley gradually rose. Hebei and Shandong in the north still maintain a certain development momentum, and sericulture in Hebei, Henan and Shandong is still very developed. But as far as the whole Yellow River basin is concerned, it is not as good as the Yangtze River basin for many reasons.
By the Yuan Dynasty, the silk reeling industry and weaving industry in the Yellow River valley had been separated, and most farmers were limited to sericulture and silk reeling. According to the comprehensive agricultural books "Summary of Agriculture and Mulberry" and "Agricultural Books at the End of Yuan Dynasty" compiled by the Agriculture Department of Dasi in the early Yuan Dynasty, the rearing and cultivation techniques of sericulture in the south of Yuan Dynasty were more advanced than those in the north, and the quality of silk produced was also high.
In the Ming Dynasty, during the Hongwu period of the Ming Dynasty, the imperial court stipulated that the number of summer tax silks in several provinces in the Yellow River valley was * * * 74,000, which was much less than the 2 1.4 million in the Yangtze River valley and its south area, which reflected the decline of sericulture and silk weaving in the north at the end of Yuan Dynasty.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the Yangtze River valley was the most developed area of sericulture and silk weaving in China, especially in the southeast. Planting mulberry and sericulture is a sideline of almost all farmers. The sericulture industry in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province is the first in China. Businessmen from all over the world come to Huzhou to buy silk, which is very profitable. Even sericulture is a major phenomenon in local rural areas. In the lower reaches of the Yangtze River centered on Suzhou, Hangzhou and Jiaxing, urban residents are familiar with the machine industry, and a number of market towns mainly based on silk weaving have emerged. Such as Wujiang Zhenze, Shengze and Tongxiang Puyuan. Chengdu Shujin's position in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River is gradually replaced by downstream products.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the overall level of silk industry in the Yellow River valley was not as good as that in the Yangtze River valley, but there were also some famous producing areas. For example, Lu Si produced by Lu 'an Prefecture in Shanxi Province is very famous in Hainan. Others, such as Rao Si in Raoyang, Hebei, Qin Satin in Guanzhong, Bian Si and Bian Si in Henan, became famous for a time.
In the Ming and Qing Dynasties and beyond, it was the rise of cotton planting and weaving that had a certain impact on the development of sericulture and silk weaving. Because compared with sericulture, cotton "has the effect of getting something for nothing", some silk floss is replaced by cotton, and some silk products are replaced by cotton cloth.