FROM COCCOON TO CROWN - CHINA JOURNEY

That day we were taken to the Beijing Yuanlong Silk Factory. I was quite skeptical about visiting a silk factory because India, and particularly our state, is famous for silk, but to my surprise, I learned a lot about silk that day.

China is the world's largest and earliest silk producer, with the vast majority of silk coming from the mulberry silkworms. The production of silk originated in the Neolithic period (4th millennium BC), and the art of silk production remained confined to China until the Silk Road opened in 114 BC, though China maintained its monopoly over silk production for another thousand years.

Use of silk in China was not confined to clothing alone, and silk was used for writing history too.

The color of silk worn also held social importance and formed an important guide to social class during the Tang Dynasty.

Silk cultivation spread to Japan around 300 AD and by 552 AD, the Byzantine Empire (Eastern Roman Empire) managed to obtain silkworm eggs stealthily through two monks and was able to begin silkworm cultivation; the Arabs also began to manufacture silk at the same time.

In the 20th century, Japan and China regained their earlier dominant role in silk production, and China is now once again the world's largest producer of silk. 

Many myths and legends exist regarding the exact origin of silk production. History tells us that in 3000 BC, a silkworm's cocoon accidentally fell into the teacup of the 14-year-old Empress Leizu, and to extract it from her drink, she began to unroll the thread of the cocoon and saw the long fibers that constituted the cocoon.

The Empress decided to weave some of it and kept some of the cocoons to do so. Having observed the life of the silkworm, she began to instruct her entourage in the art of raising silkworms, which later came to be known as sericulture, and thus the empress became the goddess of silk.

Though silk was exported to foreign countries in great amounts, sericulture remained a secret that the Chinese carefully guarded.

In China, silkworm farming was originally restricted to women, and many women were employed in the silk-making industry. Silk provoked such a craze among the high society that rules were enforced to limit its use to the members of the imperial family. 

In the course of time, silk began to be used for decorative purposes and in less luxurious ways. like musical instruments, fishing, and bow making. 

For more than a millennium, silk remained the principal diplomatic gift of the emperor of China to neighbouring countries. 

In the silk factory, we were shown the procedure of how Silkworms produce their own cocoons out of a single silk thread and, once the cocoon is ready, how they are hand-picked one by one and put in an oven for the heat to kill the worm without damaging the silk thread. This procedure is quite a barbaric one and is the reason for some people in the world to refuse to wear silk clothes.

When worms are dead, the cocoons are left to soak in water so that the workers can easily find the end of the thread to place it in the spinning machine that will untangle many of them .

A single thread is too thin, and usually the finished silk strand used to make the fabric comprises of eight raw threads.

Double and single quilts were available on sale, and they were light and wonderful; again, weight restrictions in our luggage prevented us from buying them.

We then proceeded to the Silk Street, so named as it was previously a complete street with multiple open stalls; now all the stalls are in a single air-conditioned complex with escalators and signboards, each stall arranged in modern, glass-fronted side-by-side locations. It was directly linked to the metro subway too, which was very convenient for customers.

We saw plenty of nice pearl and jade jewellery, mobile phone accessories, silks, scarves, and leather belts. Good food courts were available and relatively clean toilets under the Pearl Market.

We needed to do a lot of bargaining, as negotiation was expected. We saw an article, asked for almost half its original price, a calculator was brought out and haggling went on. 

There were different levels of quality in goods, and a discerning eye was much needed to make out the true worth. We went to an Indian restaurant for dinner; the owner there was a young Indian, very enthusiastic. He served us food personally and lovingly.

Our day ended with the Golden Dynasty Mask show, which was at the city centre. While waiting for the show to begin, I saw a cute autorickshaw.

Actually, we had walked a lot that day and were tired and were waiting to go to our hotel and relax, but we were spellbound by the show, which was around 90 minutes. 

It was all about an ancient love story; there were superb stage settings with waterfalls, pools, and floods happening right before our eyes. Apparently, 84,000 gallons of water are used for these special effects. There were no dialogues, but we could understand what was happening, with the story played out superbly in the form of dance and acrobatics and laser work. In one scene, I noticed 12 live white peacocks used as headgear very effectively