As early as 1837 the famous scholar Dr. Way (Camille Beauvais) in the introduction to the Chinese literature on sericulture by the Chinese scholar Stanislas Julien, pointed out, "Whatever the opinion of sericulturists or scholars of the present work may be, I think it will always remain a testimony to the fact that the Han Chinese are superior to any other people in the specific practice than any other people, and an ironclad testimony to the amazing achievements they have made." French silk industry history scholar Ernest Pariset also in its 1862 and 1865 divided into the next part of the publication of the magnum opus "Histoire de la Soie", from the perspective of historiography and the distribution of natural sericulture on the origin of sericulture analysis and research, denying that sericulture in China with the same long history of civilization in Egypt, Egypt, Egypt, China and the United States, and China has the same long history of civilization in the sericultural industry. The same long history of civilization in Egypt, India, Ancient Greece and other countries the possibility of the origin of the silk industry, China is the origin of the world silk industry concluded. Since the 20th century, China's rich cultural relics and archaeological achievements, and historical records and myths and legends corroborate each other, further confirming that our country is the birthplace of the world sericulture industry, planting silkworms, reeling and weaving silk is the great invention of our ancestors, is a great contribution to human civilization.

From the discovery of cocoons in Yangshao culture site in Xia County, Shanxi in 1926, to the 1983 Yangshao culture site in Qingtai Village, east of Xingyang City, Henan Province, silk fabrics unearthed; in 1980 in the Yangshao culture site of Zhengding County, Hebei Province, Nan Yangzhuang, the excavation of two ceramic silkworm pupae, as well as the oracle bones unearthed in the Yinxu, Henan Province, there are "silkworms, mulberry, Silk, silk, silk" and other hieroglyphics and oracle bones found in the divination related to sericulture, fully demonstrates that the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River is one of the birthplaces of silk industry. From the silk thread, silk ribbon and plain silk pieces unearthed in 1958 at the Qanshanyang Neolithic site in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, the black ceramics with "silkworm pattern" unearthed at the Meiyan site in Wu County, Jiangsu Province, in 1960, the wooden cloth rollers, bone knives, wooden warp beams, and the "weaving pattern" unearthed at the Hemudu site in Yuyao, Zhejiang Province, in 1977, it is clear that the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River were one of the birthplaces of the silk industry. The area in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River is also one of the birthplaces of the silk industry. In addition, in recent years, the excavation of cultural relics such as the "silkworm body" gold tiger-shaped ornaments in the Sanxingdui ruins in Guanghan City, Sichuan Province, as well as the long-standing Chengdu Plain, "Silkworm Ma Tou Niang," the myths and legends and the custom of worshipping the "Qingyi God. The custom of sacrificing to the "Qingyi God" can show that the Three Rivers Plain of Chengdu, which is centered on the Sanxingdui site, is also one of the birthplaces of the silk industry. The origin of the ancient Chinese civilization is multi-source, the origin of the Chinese silk industry should also be multi-center, the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and the three river basins of the Sichuan Basin are one of the origins of the silk industry.

Two

From the point of view of human evolution and cognitive science speculation: our ancestors on the use of silk knowledge should begin to harvest mulberry or silkworm pupae, they found in the process of harvesting silkworm pupae cocoons can be spun silk utilization value, and in the use of boiled water to cook silkworm pupae, or other accidental discovery of boiled water can be boiled cocoon reeling, ... ...With the recognition of the value of the use of silk, people need a lot of cocoons, due to the collection of cocoons in the wild time-consuming and laborious, began to plant in the residence of the mulberry recruitment, in the process of planting the mulberry recruitment of the process of deepening the understanding of the ecology of the silkworm, but also in order to prevent the harm of birds and animals and to improve the production of cocoons began to be introduced to the silkworm indoors, and then select the species to stay in the breeding to complete the domestication of the work

. Therefore, we believe that human domestication of silkworms have gone through: wild collection, planting and rearing, indoor rearing process.

While the silk used in the earliest silk fabrics in ancient times (which may not have been unearthed yet) was not necessarily domesticated, most of the textile implements and the excavation of dental carvings with "weaving patterns" and "silkworm patterns" in Hemudu ruins and the excavation of cocoon shells in Yin Ruins have shown that the domestication of silkworms has gone through a process of domestication, which includes: wild collection, planting of silkworms, and indoor rearing. As well as the excavation of cocoon shells in the Yin ruins, indicating that 6,000 years ago our ancestors have recognized the relationship between silkworms and textiles, it is assumed that at that time has begun to plant mulberry outdoor rearing and domestication of wild silkworms.

The need for production is only as good as the need for consumption. Although the origin of silk weaving technology should be earlier than the artificial rearing of silkworms, but when there is a certain amount of production of silk fabrics and the emergence of ceramic silkworm pupae and jade silkworms as decorations, people must be very familiar with the silkworm and worship, it can be assumed that at that time the wild silkworms have begun to be domesticated and enter the domestication stage. 1958, Qianshanyang site in Zhejiang Province in the silk threads and fabrics, and in 1980 in the site of Nan Yangzhuang in Hebei Province in the pottery of the pupae of silkworms, illustrates that Around 5,500 years ago, our ancestors had mastered the silk weaving technology and started to raise silkworms indoors artificially. Therefore, on the current excavated artifacts evidence, can be considered the origin of the silk industry in the 5500 years before the present.