The silk legend
According to a Chinese legend recorded in the writings of Confucius, silk was discovered in 2640 BC by XiLingJi, the young wife of China's third emperor, known as "HuangDi".
The story goes that XiLingJi was drinking tea under a mulberry tree in the garden of the imperial palace, when a cocoon fell from the tree into the hot tea. Wanting to extract it from her drink, the young girl began to unwind the thread of the cocoon and was greatly surprised, along with her maids, to see the cocoon unfurl into a long, delicate thread.
XiLingJi was so amazed by the beauty and strength of this thread that she had thousands of cocoons harvested and woven into a dress, which she presented to the emperor.
Patiently observing the life of the mulberry bombyx on the recommendation of her husband, the Emperor, she began to teach those around her the art of raising it - sericulture.
Since then, the young woman has remained in Chinese mythology as the "goddess of silk".
