As one of the earliest animal fibers utilized by humans, silk carries a cultural heritage and industrial accumulation spanning thousands of years. China, the birthplace of the global silk industry, has a history of more than 5,500 years dating back to the late Neolithic Age. The legend of "Leizu first teaching the people to raise silkworms" has been passed down to this day, and silkworm-patterned relics unearthed at the Hemudu Site further attest to the early traces of silk utilization. Today, the silk industry has formed a complete industrial chain from breeding to deep processing, embodying both cultural value and economic vitality.
Silk classification is mainly based on differences in silkworm species and manufacturing techniques. The mainstream silk varieties in China are mulberry silk and tussah silk. Mulberry silk, secreted by domestic silkworms raised indoors, features a creamy white hue and a delicate, smooth texture, serving as the core raw material for high-end pure silk products. It is mainly produced in Guangxi, Sichuan, the Jiangsu-Zhejiang region and other areas. Tussah silk, sourced from wild tussah silkworms raised in the open air, is naturally dark gray, with coarse, tough and wear-resistant fibers and a higher cost performance ratio. Its major production areas are in northern China such as Liaoning and Henan.
The excellent properties of silk stem from its unique structure. Composed of fibroin and sericin, it is rich in 18 essential amino acids for the human body, and boasts advantages such as moisture absorption and breathability, skin-friendliness and warmth retention, as well as antibacterial and anti-allergic properties. Silk fabrics not only have a soft and smooth hand feel and a gentle luster, but also possess the characteristic of "silk rustle". Meanwhile, silk exerts special effects in skin care, sedation, medical care and health preservation. These properties make it widely applied in fields such as apparel and home textiles, cosmetics, and biomedicine. From high-end cheongsams and silk quilts to medical dressings and beauty substrates, the market demand for silk products is diversified.
China dominates the global silk industry, accounting for more than 77% of the world's total output, with Guangxi emerging as the largest silkworm cocoon producing area. The market scale of China's silk industry reached 46.8 billion yuan in 2023 and is projected to exceed 72 billion yuan by 2028. In the future, with the promotion of intelligent breeding, the expansion of biomedicine applications and the upgrading of green consumption, the silk industry will transform from a production-oriented model to one driven by both quality and brand, radiating new vitality.