For hundreds of years, silk industry flourished in China and the process of silk cultivation and weaving became an integral part of the Chinese society. Even today, many fashion designers from all over the world still covet silk fabrics because of its smooth and soft texture; the fibers are either plain white or tinted with various colors depending on the customer’s preferences. The traditional Chinese silk consists of many patterns mostly based on abstract designs such as Chinese knots, flowers, dragons, and other imagery based from the Chinese mythology and nature. Silk is a type of fiber originating from the cocoons of the silkworms. Silkworms also known in the animal kingdom as Bombyx Mori weave their cocoons in preparation for the pupa stage but in this case, the woven cocoons are separated from the animal often using brutal methods. The first method is to expose the silk cocoons to direct sunlight, preferably in a place where greater amount of sun radiation is consistent to kill the animal slowly. The next method uses another brutal tactic this time by boiling them alive. The goal of the industry is not to save the animal, but rather to save the woven raw silk from deterioration; hence, the manual tactics of removing the developing moth inside would end up ruining the entire cloth. Silkworms produce a gooey adhesive gel known as “sericin”. Sericin is the substance primarily responsible for the concentric appearance of raw silk. (Thorp and Vinograd 131).
Silk in the ancient China such as those from the Zhou and Han periods was woven using looms to re-arrange the silk thread into groups to form fabrics. These fabrics were dyed with colors or sometimes silk manufacturers proceed to manipulate the weaving by incorporating several wraps of silk fibers together. These silk fibers were often colored and woven using hand-operated looms creates the fascinating designs. A skilled weaver can produce many complicated designs such as dragons, phoenix, and abstract elements found in Chinese art. Perhaps the most prominent silk cloth found in an archaeological excavation site in Changsha, China was the Mawangdui silk. The Mawangdui silk banner was painted with intricate designs and the iconography depicted on the silk banner tells the modern day historians about the life and social customs of the people who lived in this period. According to some scholars, the grave site at the Mawangdui held priceless possessions of a Chinese nobleman buried in the same place along with his wife and sons approximately in the initial phase of the 2nd century B.C. (Thorp and Vinograd 131). One scene depicted on the silk banner was the scene which I call Lamentation. The Lamentation can be seen on the lower central part of the banner; the iconography depicts the dead body of Lady Dai, also a noblewoman and the consort of Li Cang, the marquis of Dai. Several of her loyal female servants gathered together crying over the loss of their master. Another portrait of her can also be seen on the middle part of the banner; here Lady Dai was depicted holding a walking stick accompanied by her ladies-in-waiting. In front of them, two male subjects perform a kowtow to Lady Dai. Throughout the Mawangdui scroll, the images of dragons were repeated; the dragon in ancient Chinese mythology symbolizes power and the male gender. Another animal depicted on the banner was the phoenix, which symbolizes the female and rebirth. The silk banner entirely depicts Lady Dai’s life through visually interconnected images. (Tseng 171-178). In this respect, the value of silk in ancient Chinese culture provides the modern day scholars with tidbits of information from the past. The silk, which was previously known as a commodity, becomes a part of a social identity where the painted images on the banner of Mawangdui became crucial visual evidence in learning more about the history of ancient China.
WORKS CITED
Thorp, Robert L. and Richard Ellis Vinograd. Chinese Art & Culture. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2001. E-Book.
Tseng, Lillian Lan-ying. Picturing Heaven in Early Ancient China. Cambridge/London: Harvard University Asia Center, 2011. E-Book.
