Chinese silk dress has a history of thousands of years in China. Wearing a silk dress has become a symbol of wealth and status. Silk is a special product of China. The ancient Chinese working people invented and produced silk products on a large scale, which opened the first large-scale trade exchange between the East and the West in world history, known as the silk road.
History of Silk
In ancient times, silk was a kind of textile woven by silk. Due to the expansion of textile materials in modern times, all textiles woven with man-made or natural filament fibers can be called generalized silk. The silk made of pure silk is also called “real silk”. Since the Western Han Dynasty, China's silk has been shipped abroad in large quantities, becoming a world-famous product. At that time, the road from China to the West was called the “Silk Road” by Europe, and China was also called the “Silk Country”.
In ancient times, China began to raise silkworms for silk. In 1925, an antique was unearthed in Shanxi Province. According to the research of archaeologists, is the cocoon shell, it is about 1.36cm long and 1.04cm wide, which provides the earliest physical evidence for Chinese silk reeling and weaving.
Silk production in Ming Dynasty
As for silk itself, during the Warring States period, there were three types of silk, namely, Juan (绢), Qi (绮) and Jin (锦). Juan is light, durable and flat. Qi is a kind of silk fabric with patterns. Jin is a kind of silk fabric with colorful patterns, which is processed by people, it is beautiful, luxurious, and dignified with the highest price. Weaving a Juan requires two people to cooperate with each other, it takes five days to weave it. Weaving a piece of Qi takes five people and takes longer. Some of the Jin fabrics for the Royal aristocracy even lasted for several years.
Jin in Song dynasty
Famous Chinese Silk Dress
In 1972, a silk Zen dress was unearthed in Mawangdui Han tomb in Changsha, Hunan Province. The length of the dress is 128 cm, the length of the sleeve is 190 cm, the material is about 2.6 square meters, and it weighs only 49 grams. Remove the heavy collar, sleeves and lapel edge, the weight of pure yarn is only more than 20 grams.
At that time, experts copied the first plain yarn clothes, weighing more than 80 grams. After comparison, experts found that the modern silk is 23.89% thicker than the ancient silk. After 13 years of hard work, experts have finally made a second piece of plain yarn clothes weighing 49.5g. The Zen dress unearthed in Mawangdui is the earliest and lightest silk fabric in the world. This Chinese silk robe shows superb silk weaving technology and its value is immeasurable.
The Silk Road
Silk fabric technology was monopolized by China for hundreds of years. Because its weaving technology was a complex process at that time, and because of its unique feel and luster, it attracted people's attention. In 200 BC, with the help of Korean immigrants in China, North Korea first obtained the silk-making process. In the 4th century AD, India achieved a breakthrough in sericulture. Only in the 6th-century ad did the Roman Empire really master the technology of making silk.
During the Western Han Dynasty, Zhang Qian opened up the Silk Road, taking Chang'an as the starting point, passing through Hexi, arriving at the western regions, connecting Central Asia, crossing Western Asia, and finally arriving at the Roman Empire. The silk produced in China sells well all the countries along the road. Because of the long journey, the silk that arrived in Rome became very expensive. Before the industrial revolution, silk became the main international trade goods in the world and became an indispensable high-level good in the foreign trade of Chinese merchants.
Chinese silk dress not only has many applications in Hanfu including Chinese silk skirts, Chinese silk robes, and so on. It has a very good performance in cheongsam. The history of silk cheongsam is as long as the history of cheongsam. In the beginning, many cheongsams are made of silk fabric, which contains profound cultural accumulation and is in line with the elegant and graceful ancient taste and charm of cheongsam.
The earliest silk fabrics can only be used by emperors, but the rapid development of the silk industry makes the silk culture constantly infiltrate into Chinese culture from geography and society. Today, the Chinese silk dress has become more and more popular. If you have a chance, you must try it.