Nowadays, when it comes to "madeinChina" goods, people all over the world have to give a thumbs up, what is produced in China has long been deeply rooted in the daily life of everyone, it cannot be divided for a moment, Chinese boycott a certain domestic product can still survive, and if any country boycotts Chinese goods, most of the economy will have to decline seriously.
Chinese goods are not only very popular and indispensable commodities in modern times, but also sought after by many other countries in ancient times, and regardless of nationality and race, people without exception like the two things produced in China, that is, silk and porcelain, which have endured both on land and on the maritime Silk Road.
China's English name is China, which is the same word as "porcelain", but porcelain is not the first commodity exported to the West, the earliest goods that crossed to the west to the world are actually silk, and it is reasonable to say that China should be called "Silk" instead of "China".
It is recorded that the earliest silkworm reeling technology in China was in ancient times, and it is said that the person who invented this method was the wife of the Yellow Emperor, Changzu, but this claim is still controversial. However, according to archaeological research, the history of China's beginning of silkworm cultivation and silk production has appeared in the middle of the Neolithic Age, that is, five or six thousand years ago.
Since the invention of silk Chinese, this industry technology has been monopolized by China for hundreds of years or even thousands of years, silk with its sophisticated craftsmanship and perfect touch let countless foreigners fall in love at first sight, so silk has become one of the indispensable commercial products on the ancient Silk Road.
In fact, China's silk reeling technology was not allowed to be transmitted at the beginning, but this law was slowly broken, in 200 BC Korea learned the technology of silkworm breeding from immigrant Chinese, the Western Regions and India also had this technology in the 500-300 BC BC, and the Roman Empire obtained the sericulture technology later, around 550 years.
The actual spread and development of these sericulture techniques actually relied on the trade and cultural exchanges between countries, and there were foreign exchanges during the Shang zhou period, which can be examined from the Indian literature. In the Qin and Han dynasties, the Qin Dynasty had the conditions for natural exchanges with the western region because it was located in the western region.
In the Han Dynasty, because the territory of the Han Dynasty continued to expand westward, Emperor Wu of han also sent Zhang Qian to the western region twice, and the han and the outside world had more frequent exchanges, thus forming the famous "Silk Road" and opening up the road for Chinese silk to sell well overseas.
Silk, with the support of the Silk Roads, reached Central Asia, West Asia, and even Europe. Silk technology is also going abroad step by step, but after experiencing a period of turmoil in Chinese society, silk weaving has also been destroyed to a certain extent, because of historical reasons, the center of gravity of the silk weaving industry shifted from the Sui Dynasty to southern China.
Not to mention the Tang Dynasty, social development reached a peak in feudal society, trade developed, and a number of central areas for sericulture and silk reeling appeared throughout the country, and both production and technology reached an unprecedented level. During this period, there was also the Maritime Silk Road, which traded with Japan, Southeast Asia, and India.
Song Dynasty silk veil also added a variety of flowers, etc., the annual gift to Liaojin is not enough, take these precious silk veils as a filling, in fact, the silk veil was originally ordinary people can not afford to wear, especially just to the princes and nobles tribute, the so-called rarity is expensive, silk can be used directly as currency, at that time and gold is the same as the hard currency of various countries, and the silk at that time belonged to the Chinese monopoly industry.
No wonder Westerners have always thought that China in the far East is a land of gold everywhere, because silk alone is as precious as gold. Although the silk reeling technology has also spread slightly in foreign countries, it has always been because it does not have the same natural environment or technology as China, so that their silk weaving has not been able to catch up with China.
For Westerners, it is not only silk that makes them addicted, porcelain has also become a rarity in Western countries. The spread of ceramics is later than silk, and in the eighth century AD, ceramics went abroad and developed a lot during the Song Dynasty. However, due to the fragile characteristics of ceramics, the export of ceramics has taken more of the Maritime Silk Road.
The export of porcelain in the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties expanded, but during the Ming Dynasty, due to the ming dynasty's implementation of the sea ban, the export of porcelain was restricted to a certain extent, but there were also porcelain trade through folk smuggling, through many Western merchants, missionaries, and envoys who came to China.
Although the Qing Dynasty closed the country in the later period, it was still opened during the Kangxi period, which stimulated the development of foreign trade in porcelain to a certain extent, and also made China more and more known as the "Country of Porcelain".
Nowadays, silk and porcelain still have a position in China that cannot be underestimated, foreigners still like these two commodities very much, we should not forget the historical heritage at the same time, pay more attention to the development of modern technology in traditional industries, especially in the commercial trade to gain their own advantages, in order to stand in an invincible position.
[References: History of Chinese Silk Culture, Silk Road]