Question

1. Write a short paragraph expressing your ideas about the Chinese and silk production. Why do you think they so carefully guarded the secret of how to produce silk?

Answer 1

Silk production
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A moth lays 500 or so eggs and then dies

Baby worms hatch from the eggs are fed mulberry leaves for one month until they are fat

The worms spin cocoons

The cocoons are steamed to kill the growing moth inside

The cocoons are rinsed in hot water to loosen the threads

Women would unwind the cocoons and then combine six or so fibers into silk threads

The threads are woven into cloth

The cloth is then pounded to make it softer

Why it was valuable to the Chinese
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Silk cloth was extremely valuable in Ancient China. Wearing silk was an important status symbol. At first, only members of the royal family were allowed to wear silk. Later, silk clothing was restricted to only the noble class. Merchants and peasants were not allowed to wear silk. Silk was even used as money during some Ancient Chinese dynasties.

Why it was secret
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Silk became a prized export for the Chinese. Nobles and kings of foreign lands desired silk and would pay high prices for the cloth. The emperors of China wanted to keep the process for making silk a secret. Anyone caught telling the secret or taking silkworms out of China was put to death.


Hope all this helps :)