商家不给发票怎么投诉:丝绸的历史（1 2 3 4）

来自免费的维基百科

Women striking and preparing silk, painting by Emperor Huizong of Song, early 12th century.

宋徽宗于12世纪早期绘制的敲击和准备丝绸的妇女图。

According to Chinese tradition, the history of silk begins in the 27th century BCE. Its use was confined to China until the Silk Road opened at some point during the latter half of the first millennium BCE. China maintained its virtual monopoly over silk for another thousand years. Not confined to clothing, silk was also used for a number of other applications, including writing, and the colour of silk worn was an important indicator of social class during the Tang Dynasty.

根据中国传统说法，丝绸的历史于公元前二十七世纪就开始了。直到公元前一世纪后半叶的某个时刻丝绸之路的开拓，丝绸的利用一直被局限在中国。中国对丝绸维持着又一千年事实上的垄断地位。丝绸不仅用于衣物，而且还有许多其它用处，包括书写，以及人们穿戴丝绸的颜色在唐朝是社会阶级的重要标志。

Silk cultivation spread to Japan in around 300 CE, and by 522 the Byzantines managed to obtain silkworm eggs and were able to begin silkworm cultivation. The Arabs also began to manufacture silk during this same time. As a result of the spread of sericulture, Chinese silk exports became less important, although they still maintained dominance over the luxury silk market. The Crusades brought silk production to Western Europe, in particular to many Italian states, which saw an economic boom exporting silk to the rest of Europe. Changes in manufacturing techniques also began to take place during the Middle Ages, with devices such as the spinning wheel first appearing. During the 16th century France joined Italy in developing a successful silk trade, though the efforts of most other nations to develop a silk industry of their own were unsuccessful.

The Industrial Revolution changed much of Europe’s silk industry. Due to innovations in spinning cotton, it became much cheaper to manufacture and therefore caused more expensive silk production to become less mainstream. New weaving technologies, however, increased the efficiency of production. Among these was the Jacquard loom, developed for silk embroidery. An epidemic of several silkworm diseases caused production to fall, especially in France, where the industry never recovered. In the 20th century Japan and China regained their earlier role in silk production, and China is now once again the world’s largest producer of silk. The rise of new fabrics such as nylon reduced the prevalence of silk throughout the world, and silk is now once again a somewhat rare luxury good, much less important than in its heyday.

工业革命改变了欧洲丝绸工业巨大的面貌。由于纺棉技术的创新，纺棉制造业变得越来越便宜。因此，这些技术的创新导致了更昂贵的丝绸产品变得不再成为人们选择主要倾向。然而，这些新的纺织技术提高了产品的效率。在这些新的纺织技术当中，有项用于丝绸绣花技术叫作雅卡尔织机（或称提花机）的发明。而几种桑蚕疾病的流行导致了丝绸产品下滑，特别在法国，丝绸工业再也没有恢复。二十世纪，日本和中国在丝绸产品方面重新获得了早期的地位，而现在的中国再一次成了世界上最大的丝绸生产国。新织物诸如尼龙的兴起削减了丝绸在整个世界的流行，而现在丝绸再一次成了某种稀有奢侈物品，但比最兴盛时期的量要少的多。

Early history

早期的历史 

The appearance of silk

The silkworm cocoon

桑蚕茧

The earliest evidence of silk was found at the sites of Yangshao culture in Xia County, Shanxi, where a silk cocoon was found cut in half by a sharp knife, dating back to between 4000 and 3000 BCE. The species was identified as bombyx mori, the domesticated silkworm. Fragments of primitive loom can also be seen from the sites of Hemudu culture in Yuyao, Zhejiang, dated to about 4000 BCE. Scraps of silk were found in a Liangzhu culture site at Qianshanyang in Huzhou, Zhejiang, dating back to 2700 BCE.[1][2] Other fragments have been recovered from royal tombs in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600 - c. 1046 BCE).[3]

在陕西夏县的仰韶文化遗址上，研究人员发现了最早的丝绸证据。研究人员在那儿发现了一个被锋利的刀切成两半的蚕茧，而此蚕茧的日期确定在公元前4000年到公元前3000年间。这个物种被鉴定为蚕属家蚕（学名为bombyx mori), 即驯化了的桑蚕。原始的织机碎片也能在浙江余姚的大约公元前4000年的河姆渡遗址上看到。丝绸碎料在浙江湖州市吴兴区钱山漾的公元前2700年的良渚文化遗址上发现过。其它的丝绸碎片在商朝（约公元前1600年至公元前1046年）王陵里也再次发现过。

During the later epoch, the Chinese lost their secret to the Koreans, the Japanese, and later the Indians, as they discovered how to make silk. Allusions to the fabric in the Old Testament show that it was known in western Asia in biblical times.[4] Scholars believe that starting in the 2nd century BCE the Chinese established a commercial network aimed at exporting silk to the West.[4] Silk was used, for example, by the Persian court and its king, Darius III, when Alexander the Great conquered the empire.[4] Even though silk spread rapidly across Eurasia, with the possible exception of Japan its production remained exclusively Chinese for three millennia.

Myths and legends

神话和传说

Detail of an embroidered silk gauze ritual garment from a 4th century BCE, Zhou era tomb at Mashan, Hubei province, China

中国湖北省马山公元前4世纪的周朝坟墓内发现的绣花丝绸薄纱仪服的局部。

The writings of Confucius and Chinese tradition recount that in the 27th century BCE a silk worm's cocoon fell into the tea cup of the empress Leizu.[5] Wishing to extract it from her drink, the young girl of fourteen began to unroll the thread of the cocoon. She then had the idea to weave it. Having observed the life of the silk worm on the recommendation of her husband, the Yellow Emperor, she began to instruct her entourage the art of raising silk worms, sericulture. From this point on, the girl became the goddess of silk in Chinese mythology. Silk would eventually leave China in the hair of a princess promised to a prince of Khotan. This probably occurred in the early 1st century CE.[6] The princess, refusing to go without the fabric she loved, would finally break the imperial ban on silk worm exportation.

孔子和中国传统的著作详细叙述了公元前27世纪，一个桑蚕的蚕茧掉进了皇后嫘祖的茶杯里。嫘祖希望从茶杯中取出蚕茧。这位14岁的小女孩就开始展开蚕茧的丝线。之后，她有了编织蚕丝的想法。在她丈夫黄帝的建议下，她观察了桑蚕的生活并开始教授随行人员饲养桑蚕的技术，即桑蚕的养殖。从这个时刻开始，这位女孩就成了中国神话中的丝绸女神。在许配给和阗王子的公主烦人的坚持下，丝绸最终离开了中国。这个事件可能发生在公元一世纪早期。如果没有所爱的织物，公主就拒绝出嫁。这最终打破了皇帝出口桑蚕的禁令。

Though silk was exported to foreign countries in great amounts, sericulture remained a secret that the Chinese guarded carefully. Consequently, other peoples invented wildly varying accounts of the source of the incredible fabric. In classical antiquity, most Romans, great admirers of the cloth, were convinced that the Chinese took the fabric from tree leaves.[7] This belief was affirmed by Seneca the Younger in his Phaedra and by Virgil in his Georgics. Notably, Pliny the Elder knew better. Speaking of the bombyx or silk moth, he wrote in his Natural History "They weave webs, like spiders, that become a luxurious clothing material for women, called silk."[8]

虽然大量丝绸出口到外国，但养蚕业仍然是中国人小心谨慎而保护的秘密。随之的结果就是，其他民族异想天开地捏造了关于这种令人难以置信的织物来源的各种各样传闻。在古典时代，大部分罗马人——这种绸布的多数仰慕者们相信，中国人是用树叶织出这种织物的。这种看法在卢修斯?厄尼厄斯?塞內加（Lucius Annaeus Seneca）的《菲德拉》和维吉尔（即普布留斯·维吉留斯·马罗Publius Vergilius Maro）的《农事诗集》中得到确认。尤其是，大普林尼（即加伊乌斯·普林尼·塞坤杜斯（Gaius Plinius Secundus）对此知道更多。提到蚕属家蚕（学名为bombyx mori)或蚕蛾，他在《自然史》中写道“它们就像蜘蛛一样织网，而这些网就成了一种女人使用的奢侈布料，称作丝绸。”

Silk usage in Ancient and Medieval China

远古时代和中古时代中国丝绸的用法

In China, silk worm farming was originally restricted to women, and many women were employed in the silk-making industry. Even though some saw the development of a luxury product as useless, silk provoked such a craze among high society that the rules in the Li Ji were used to regulate and limit its use to the members of the imperial family.[3] For approximately a millennium, the right to wear silk was reserved for the emperor and the highest dignitaries. Later, it gradually extended to other classes of Chinese society. Silk began to be used for decorative means and also in less luxurious ways: musical instruments, fishing, and bow-making. Peasants did not have the right to wear silk until the Qing dynasty (1644–1911).[3]

中国的桑蚕养殖原来只有妇女从事，因而许多妇女受雇于丝绸制造行业。即使有人认为一件奢侈产品的发展毫无用处，丝绸还是在社会高层掀起了一股狂潮。 李绩的规定不仅用于管理而且限制丝绸只给皇帝家族成员使用。大约近一千年之久，穿戴丝绸的权力专门留给皇帝和最高阶层之人。之后，丝绸逐渐地渗透到中国社会的其它阶层。丝绸开始用于装饰而且也开始用于更不奢侈的方面：音乐乐器，钓鱼和弓箭制造。直到清朝（1644年至1911年），农民一直没有权力穿戴丝绸。

Woven silk textile from Tomb No. 1 at Mawangdui, Changsha, Hunan province, China,2nd century BCE, Western Han Dynasty

中国湖南省长沙市马王堆一号墓出土公元前2世纪西汉的机织丝绸纺织品。

Paper was one of the greatest discoveries of ancient China. Beginning in the 3rd century BCE paper was made in all sizes with various materials.[9] Silk was no exception, and silk workers had been making paper since the 2nd century BCE. Silk, bamboo, linen, wheat and rice straw were all used differently, and paper made with silk became the first type of luxury paper. Researchers have found an early example of writing done on silk paper in the tomb of a Marchioness who died around 168, in Mawangdui, Hunan. The material was certainly more expensive, but also more practical than bamboo. Treatises on many subjects, including meteorology, medicine, astrology, divinity, and even maps written on silk[10] have been discovered.

纸的发明是中国古代最伟大的发现之一。公元前三世纪开始，人们用各种材料制成各种大小的纸张。丝绸也不例外，而且，自公元2世纪以来，丝绸工人已经制造了丝绸纸张。丝绸，竹子，亚麻，麦杆和稻杆都不同程度地被用于制造纸张，而丝绸制造的纸张成了奢侈纸张的首要类型。在湖南马王堆，一位死于大约公元168年侯爵夫人的坟墓中，研究人员已经找到早期文字书写在绸纸上的例子。这种材料肯定更加昂贵，但也比竹子更加实用。研究人员已经发现许多主题的专著，包括气象学，医学，天文学，神学，甚至地图也画在丝绸上面。

Chinese painting on silk, with playing children wearing silk clothes, by Su Hanchen (active 1130s–1160s), Song Dynasty.

During the Han Dynasty, silk became progressively more valuable in its own right, and became more than simply a material. It was used to pay government officials and compensate citizens who were particularly worthy. By the same token that one would sometimes estimate the price of products according to a certain weight of gold, the length of the silk cloth became a monetary standard in China (in addition to bronze coins). The wealth that silk brought to China stirred up envy in neighbouring peoples. Beginning in the 2nd century BCE the Xiongnu, regularly pillaged the provinces of the Han Chinese for around 250 years. Silk was a common offering by the emperor to these tribes in exchange for peace.

        ". . . the military payrolls tell us that soldiers were paid in bundles of plain silk textiles, which circulated as currency in Han times. Soldiers may well have traded their silk with the nomads who came to the gates of the Great Wall to sell horses and furs."[11]

For more than a millennium, silk remained the principal diplomatic gift of the emperor of China to his neighbours or to his vassals.[3] The use of silk became so important that "silk" (糸) soon constituted one of the principal radicals of Chinese script.

一千多年以来，丝绸一直就是中国皇帝给他的邻国和属国的主要外交礼物。丝绸的用处变得如此重要，“糸”这个字不久也组成了中国汉字的主要偏旁之一。

Broadly speaking, the use of silk was regulated by a very precise code in China. For example, the Tang Dynasty and Song Dynasty imposed upon bureaucrats the use of a particular colour according to their different functions in society. Under the Ming, silk began to be used in a series of accessories: handkerchiefs, wallets, belts, or even an embroidered piece of fabric displaying dozens of animals, real or mythical. These fashion accessories remained associated with a particular position: there was a specific bonnet for warriors, for judges, for nobles, and others for religious use. The women of high Chinese society heeded codified practices and used silk in their garments to which they added countless motifs.[3] A 13th century work, the Jinpingmei, gives a description of one such motif:

大致来讲，丝绸的使用在中国受到非常细致的法规的管理。比如，在唐朝和宋朝，根据官员们在社会中的不同职责而强加给他们特定的颜色。在明朝统治下，丝绸开始被用于一系列的装饰用品：手帕，钱包，皮带，或甚至一块展示几十个逼真的或神秘动物的绣花织物。这些时尚的装饰用品仍然和特别的职位有关：有一种特定的颏下系细绳的帽子为战士，法官和贵族们制造，而其它的帽子则为宗教使用。中国高层社会的妇女非常注意整理经验并用在她们的衣服上用丝绸添加无数用于装饰的设计。《金瓶梅》对一件13世纪的织物作品中这样的装饰设计做了如下描述：

“     Golden lotus having a quilted backgammon pattern, double-folded, adorned with savage geese pecking at a landscape of flowers and roses; the dress' right figure had a floral border with buttons in the form of bees or chrysanthemums.[3]

“金莲有一条缝制的15子游戏图案，双褶，饰有野鹅啄鲜花和玫瑰景致的裙子；这条裙右边的图案是以蜜蜂或菊花形式的纽扣做装饰花边。”

中国丝绸及其贸易

A number of archaeological discoveries showed that silk had become a luxury material appreciated in foreign countries well before the opening of the Silk Road by the Chinese. For example, silk has been found in the Valley of the Kings in a tomb of a mummy dating from 1070 BCE.[12] First the Greeks, then the Romans began to speak of the Seres (people of silk), a term to designate the inhabitants of the far-off kingdom, China. According to certain historians, the first Roman contact with silk was that of the legions of the governor of Syria, Crassus. At the Battle of Carrhae, near to the Euphrates, the legions were said to be so surprised by the brilliance of the banners of Parthia that they fled.[12]

许多考古发现表明，丝绸远在中国人开辟丝绸之路前就已经成了外国人所欣赏的一种奢侈用品。比如，考古人员已经在埃及帝王谷一具公元前1070年的木乃伊坟墓里发现了丝绸。首先是希腊人，然后是罗马人开始讲到丝绸之地的人民（丝民）。这个素语用来称呼遥远王国——中国的居民。根据某些历史学家所说，首次与丝绸取得联系的罗马人是叙利亚执政者——克拉苏的古罗马军团内的人。据说，在卡雷战役的幼发拉底河附近，古罗马军团非常惊奇他们逃跑过的帕提亚旗帜的鲜亮。

The main silk roads between 500 B.C. and 500 A.D.

公元前500年到公元500年之间的主要丝绸之路。

The silk road toward the west was opened by the Chinese in the 2nd century CE. The main road left from Xi'an, going either to the north or south of the Taklamakan desert, one of the most arid in the world, before crossing the Pamir Mountains. The caravans that employed this method to exchange silk with other merchants were generally quite large, including from 100 to 500 people as well as camels and yaks carrying around 140 kg (300 lb) of merchandise. They linked to Antioch and the coasts of the Mediterranean, about one year's travel from Xi'an. In the South, a second route went by Yemen, Burma, and India before rejoining the northern route.[13][14]

中国人在公元二世纪开辟了通往西方的丝绸之路。主要的道路就是从西安出发，要么走塔克拉玛干沙漠（世界上最干旱地区之一）的北部，要么走塔克拉玛干沙漠的南部，然后再跨越帕米尔高原。一般来讲，那些利用这种方式来和其他商人交换丝绸的旅行队的人很多，包括100到500人不等，还有扛着大约140公斤（300磅）货物的骆驼和牦牛。这些旅行队和安提阿以及地中海的沿海地区连接在了一起。从西安到这些地方大概需要一年的旅行时间。在中国南部，第二条路线通过也门、缅甸和印度，然后重新加入北方路线。

Not long after the conquest of Egypt in 30 BCE regular commerce began between the Romans and Asia, marked by the Roman appetite for silk cloth coming from the Far East, which was then resold to the Romans by the Parthians. The Roman Senate tried in vain to prohibit the wearing of silk, for economic reasons as well as moral ones. The import of Chinese silk resulted in vast amounts of gold leaving Rome, to such an extent that silk clothing was perceived as a sign of decadence and immorality.

公元前30年，埃及被征服后不久，古罗马和亚洲之间的正常贸易开始了。这种贸易以罗马人对来自远东丝绸的欲望为市场，之后由帕提亚人再重新出售给罗马人。罗马元老院禁止穿戴丝绸的企图白白浪费了，因为经济，还有道德原因。中国丝绸的进口导致了大量的黄金流出了罗马。后来，以致到了这样一种程度，丝绸衣服被认为是一种颓废和不道德的迹象。

“ I can see clothes of silk, if materials that do not hide the body, nor even one's decency, can be called clothes. ... Wretched flocks of maids labour so that the adulteress may be visible through her thin dress, so that her husband has no more acquaintance than any outsider or foreigner with his wife's body.     ”

“我能看见被称作服装的丝绸服装，如果这些料子没有把人的身体掩藏起来的话，甚至没有把某人的颓废掩藏起来的话。…可怜的成群女佣在一块儿劳作，那么奸妇可能穿过她那薄薄的裙子看到，因此她的丈夫再也不比任何外人或陌生人更熟悉他妻子的身体。”

—Seneca the Younger, Declamations Vol. I.[15]

——卢修斯?厄尼厄斯?塞內加（Lucius Annaeus Seneca），《演讲》第一册

Spread of production

丝绸生产的传播

Sassanid inspired two-sided silk cloth, with winged lions and tree of life, from the early Islamic period in Iran, National Museum of Iran.

伊朗国家博物馆内伊朗早期伊斯兰阶段的萨珊王朝授意的双面绸，饰有翅膀的狮子和生命树。

Although silk was well known in Europe and most of Asia, China was able to keep a near monopoly on silk production. The monopoly was defended by an imperial decree, condemning to death anyone attempting to export silkworms or their eggs. Only around the year 300 CE did a Japanese expedition succeed in taking some silkworm eggs and four young Chinese girls, who were forced to teach their captors the art of sericulture.[16] Techniques of sericulture were subsequently introduced to Japan on a larger scale by frequent diplomatic exchanges between the 8th century and 9th centuries.

虽然丝绸在整个欧洲和大部分亚洲地区闻名遐迩，但中国在丝绸产品方面能保持一种几近垄断的地位。这种垄断地位受到一则帝国法令的保护：判处任何企图出口桑蚕或桑蚕卵之人死刑。只有大约在公元300年，一个日本考察队成功地虏走了一些桑蚕卵和四位年轻中国女孩。这些女孩被迫教授俘获她们的人养殖桑蚕的技术。结果，在8世纪和9世纪期间，养蚕技术通过频繁外交交换更大规模地被引进日本。

Starting in the 4th century BCE silk began to reach the West by merchants who would exchange it for gold, ivory, horses or precious stones. Up to the frontiers of the Roman Empire, silk became a monetary standard for estimating the value of different products. Hellenistic Greece appreciated the high quality of the Chinese goods and made efforts to plant mulberry trees and breed silkworms in the Mediterranean basin. Sassanid Persia controlled the trade of silk destined for Europe and Byzantium.

从公元前四世纪开始，商人们将丝绸交换黄金，象牙，马匹或贵重的石头而使其到达了西方社会。通往罗马帝国的边境上，丝绸成了估计不同产品价值的货币标准。希腊化时代的希腊欣赏中国物品的高质量并不遗余力地在地中海盆地种植桑树和饲养桑蚕。萨珊王朝的波斯控制着指定运往欧洲和拜占庭的丝绸贸易。

The monks sent by Justinian give the silkworms to the emperor.

查士丁尼一世派出的修道士送桑蚕给皇帝。

According to story by Procopius[17], it was not until 552 CE that the Byzantine emperor Justinian obtained the first silkworm eggs. He had sent two Nestorian monks to Central Asia, and they were able to smuggle silkworm eggs to him hidden in rods of bamboo. While under the monks' care, the eggs hatched, though they did not cocoon before arrival. The Byzantine church was thus able to make fabrics for the emperor, with the intention of developing a large silk industry in the Eastern Roman Empire, using techniques learned from the Sassanids. These gynecia had a legal monopoly on the fabric, but the empire continued to import silk from other major urban centres on the Mediterranean.[18] The magnificence of the Byzantine techniques was not a result of the manufacturing process, but instead of the meticulous attention paid to the execution and decorations. The weaving techniques they used were taken from Egypt. The first diagrams of semple looms appeared in the 5th century.[19]

根据普罗科匹厄斯的故事，直到公元552年，拜占庭皇帝查士丁尼一世才获得了首批桑蚕卵。他已经派出了聂斯脱利的修道士到中亚，因而他们能把桑蚕卵藏在竹罐里偷运给他。而在这些修道士的照顾下，虽然它们没有在到达之前结茧，但蚕卵还是孵出来了。随着在东罗马帝国发展一个巨大的丝绸行业的意图以及使用从萨珊王朝学到的技术，拜占庭教堂因此能给皇帝制造织物。这些修道士在织物方面有着合法的控制权，但东罗马帝国继续从地中海的其它城市中心进口丝绸。拜占庭技术的重要意义在于，并不是制造加工的结果，而是对表演和装饰所付出的谨小慎微的注意。他们使用的编织技术取自埃及。十五世纪出现了首批简单织机的简图。

The Arabs, with their widening conquests, spread sericulture across the shores of the Mediterranean. Included in these were Africa, Spain and Sicily, all of which developed an important silk industry.[20] The mutual interactions among Byzantine and Muslim silk-weaving centers of all levels of quality, with imitations made in Andalusia and Lucca, among other cities, have made the identification and date of rare surviving examples difficult to pinpoint.[21]

阿拉伯人凭借逐渐扩大的征服而把养蚕业传播到整个中海沿岸。这些地区还包括非洲，西班牙和西西里岛。所有这些国家和地区发展成了一个重要的丝绸工业。拜占庭和穆斯林各种质量的织丝中心彼此影响，其它城市当中还有安达鲁西亚（西班牙的一个自治区）和卢卡（意大利的一个城市）的仿制品，已经使得极少幸存下来样品的鉴定和日期很难准确描述。

While the Chinese lost their monopoly on silk production, they were able re-established themselves as major silk supplier (during the Tang dynasty) and industrialize their production in a large scale (during the Song dynasty)[22]. China continued to export high-quality fabric to Europe and the Near East along the silk road.

与此同时，中国人失去了丝绸生产的垄断地位，不过，他们能重新建立作为主要丝绸提供者（在唐朝期间）并大规模工业化（在宋朝期间）丝绸产品。中国继续沿着丝绸之路向欧洲和近东出口高质量的丝绸。

Much later, following the Crusades, techniques of silk production began to spread across Western Europe. In 1147 while Byzantine emperor Manuel I Komnenos was focusing all his efforts on the Second Crusade, the Norman king Roger II of Sicily attacked Corinth and Thebes, two important centres of Byzantine silk production. They took the crops and silk production infrastructure, and deported all the workers to Palermo, thereby causing the Norman silk industry to flourish.[23] The sack of Constantinople by the Fourth Crusade in 1204 brought decline to the city and its silk industry, and many artisans left the city in the early 13th century.[20] Italy developed a large domestic silk industry after 2000 skilled weavers came from Constantinople. Many also chose to settle in Avignon to furnish the popes of Avignon.

之后很长时间，随着十字军东征，丝绸生产的技术开始向整个西欧传播。1147年，拜占庭皇帝曼努埃尔一世正集中所有的努力进行第二次东征，诺（尔）曼国王西西里岛的罗杰二世袭击了拜占庭帝国的两个重要丝绸产品中心——科林斯和底比斯。他们虏取了粮食和丝绸生产基础结构，并把所有的工人驱逐出境去了巴勒莫（西西里岛西北部城市），因此，这也导致了诺尔曼丝绸工业繁荣起来。1204年，第四次十字军东征对君士坦丁堡的洗劫导致了该城以及其丝绸行业的衰落，而许多技术工人在十三世纪早期离开了这里。而两千名来自君士坦丁堡的熟练织布工到了意大利之后，意大利发展了一个巨大的国内丝绸行业。许多人也选择在阿维尼翁（法国东南部城市）定居而为阿维尼翁教皇们提供丝绸产品。

The sudden boom of the silk industry in the Italian state of Lucca, starting in the 11th and 12th centuries was due to much Sicilian, Jewish, and Greek settlement, alongside many other immigrants from neighbouring cities in southern Italy.[24] With the loss of many Italian trading posts in the Orient, the import of Chinese styles drastically declined. Gaining momentum, in order to satisfy the rich and powerful bourgeoisie's demands for luxury fabrics, the cities of Lucca, Genoa, Venice and Florence were soon exporting silk to all of Europe. In 1472 there were 84 workshops and at least 7000 craftsmen in Florence alone.

意大利卢卡国丝绸工业的突然繁荣开始于十一世纪和十二世纪。这是由于西西里人，犹太人和希腊人移民到了意大利南部沿着许多其他移民的周边城市。随着东方国家里许多意大利贸易站的消失，中式丝绸的进口急剧下降。由于获得了势头，为了满足富人和强大的资产阶级对奢侈织物的需求，卢卡、热那亚、威尼斯和佛罗伦萨市不久开始向欧洲所有地区出口丝绸。1472年，单单佛罗伦萨市就有84家作坊以及至少7000名纺织工人。

Reciprocal influences

相互影响

Silk was made using various breeds of lepidopterans, both wild and domestic. While wild silks were produced in many countries, there is no doubt that the Chinese were the first to begin production on such a large scale, having the most effective species for silk production, the Bombyx mandarina and its domesticated descendent B. mori. Chinese sources claim the existence of a machine to unwind silkworm cocoons in 1090. The cocoons were placed in a large basin of hot water, the silk would leave the cauldron by tiny guiding rings, and would be wound onto a large spool, thanks to a backwards and forward motion.[9] Little information exists about spinning techniques in use in China. The spinning wheel, in all likelihood moved by hand, was known by the beginning of the Christian era. The first accepted image of a spinning wheel appears in 1210. There is an image of a silk spinning machine powered by a water wheel that dates to 1313.

丝绸由各种野生和家养鳞翅目昆虫孵化的卵而逐渐形成。而且许多国家生产野生丝绸，毫无疑问，中国人由于拥有丝绸生产最有效的物种，蚕属野桑蚕（学名Bombyx mandarina）和其驯养的后代蚕属家蚕（学名Bombyx mori）而首批开始大规模生产丝绸。中文资料宣称，1090年中国已有一种抽出蚕茧丝线的机器。蚕茧被放在一大盆热水里，丝线通过微小的指导环而离开大锅，并由于前后运动而被绕在一个大线轴上。中国保存下来有关使用的纺织技术信息很少。公元前后，最可能用手摇动的纺车开始闻名。1210年，第一部公众所接受的纺车图像出现。一部水轮转动丝绸纺车图像的日期确定为1313年。

French silk brocade-Lyon 1760-1770

1760—1770年里昂的法国丝锦缎

More information is known about the looms used. The Nung Sang Chi Yao, or Fundamentals of Agriculture and Sericulture, compiled around 1210, is rich with pictures and descriptions, many pertaining to silk.[25] It repeatedly claims the Chinese looms to be far superior to all others. It speaks of two types of loom that leave the worker's arms free: the draw loom, which is of Eurasian origin, and the pedal loom which is attributed to East Asian origins. There are many diagrams originate in the 12th and 13th centuries. When examined closely, many similarities between Eurasian machines can be drawn. Since the Jin dynasty, the existence of silk damasks has been well recorded, and since the 2nd century BCE, four-shafted looms and other innovations allowed the creation of silk brocades.

人们已知更多关于用过的织机信息。大约1210年编撰的《农桑辑要》或《农业和养蚕业的基本原理》有着丰富的图片和说明，而且许多和丝绸有关。这本书再三强调，中国的织机比其它所有的织机都要高级的多。书中讲到两种不用工人手臂的织机：源于欧亚的拉花机和认为源于东亚的踏板织机。还有许多创造于十二和十三世纪的织机简图。当观察地更近些，人们可以得出欧亚织机之间的许多相似性。自晋朝以来，丝缎的存在已经有了很好的记载，而自公元前二世纪以来，四轴织机和其它发明使得丝锦缎的创造成了可能。

中世纪丝绸

A more abundant luxury

一种更丰富的奢侈品

A mature mulberry tree in Provence.

普罗旺斯一棵成熟的桑树。

The high Middle Ages saw continued use of established techniques for silk manufacture without any changes to speak of, neither in materials nor in tools used. Between the 10th and 12th centuries, small changes began to appear, though the changes of the 13th century were much larger and more radical. In a short time, new fabrics began to appear; hemp and cotton each also had their own particular techniques of manufacture. Known since Roman times, silk remained a rare and expensive material.[26] Byzantine magnaneries in Greece and Syria (6th to 8th century), and those of the Arabs in Sicily and Spain (8th to 10th century) were able to supply the luxury material in a much greater abundance.[26]

中世纪的全盛时期以继续运用原有的丝绸生产技术为特点。那个时期，既没有讲到材料方面的任何改革，也没有讲到使用工具方面的任何改革。虽然十三世纪的改革要大而且更重要的多，但十世纪至十二世纪期间，各种小的改革开始不断出现。短期内，新的织物开始出现；大麻和棉花也都有各自的特别生产技术。自罗马时代就已闻名的丝绸仍然是一种稀有而昂贵的材料。希腊和叙利亚（六世纪到八世纪）的拜占庭养蚕地和西西里岛和西班牙（八世纪到十世纪）的阿拉伯人养蚕地能够提供这种奢侈物品的量要大的多。

Improved technology

提高了的技术

Stained glass panel in the Cathedral of Chartres, the first depiction of a spinning wheel.

沙特尔主教堂彩色窗玻璃片上首次描绘一辆纺车。

The 13th century saw an already changing technology undergo many dramatic changes. It is possible that, as with in England at the end of the 18th century, advances in the textile industry were a driving force behind advances in technology as a whole. Silk indeed occupies a privileged place in history on account of this.[27]

十三世纪是以一项早已在改革的技术为特点。这项技术经受了许多戏剧性的改革。纺织工业的进展很可能和十八末世纪的英国一起作为一个整体是这些技术进展背后一项驱动力量。由于这一点，丝绸在历史上确实占有特权地位。

At the start of the 13th century, a primitive form of milling the silk threads was already in use. In 1221 Jean de Garlande's dictionary, and in 1226, étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers (Tradesman's Handbook) enumerated many types of devices which can only have been doubling machines. The instruments used were further perfected in Bologna between 1270 and 1280. From the start of the 14th century, many documents allude to the use of devices that were quite complex.[28]

十三世纪开始，人们已经在运用使丝线缩绒的原始形式了。1221年加兰的约翰（Jean de Garlande）的字典和1226年厄特让?布瓦洛（étienne Boileau的（《商人手册》）在单子上一个一个地列出了那些只能增加一倍的机器的多种设备。1270年至1280年期间，那些在博洛尼亚使用的器械进一步完美化了。从十四世纪开始，许多文献间接提到了使用这些设备相当繁杂。

The reel, originally developed for the silk industry, now has multiple uses. The earliest surviving depiction of a spinning wheel is a panel of stained glass in the Cathedral of Chartres.[29] Bobbins and warping machines appear together in the stained glass at Chartres and in a fresco in the Cologne Kunkelhaus (ca 1300). It is possible that the toothed warping machine was created by the silk industry; it allowed the warp to be more uniform and allowed the warp to be of a longer length.[28]

原来为丝绸工业而发展的绕线轮现在已有了多方面的运用。最早幸存下来一辆纺车的描述是在沙特尔主教堂的一扇彩色窗玻璃上。各种筒管和经纱机器在沙特尔主教堂内的彩色玻璃窗上和科隆哥特式大教堂的湿壁画上一起出现（约公元1300年）。齿型整经机很有可能是由丝绸工业创造的；这种机器不仅容许经纱更均匀一致而且容许经纱更长的长度。

Starting at the end of the 14th century, no doubt on account of the devastation caused mid-century by the Black Death, there was a general shift towards less expensive techniques. Many things which would have earlier been completely forbidden by the guilds were now commonplace (using low quality wool, carding, etc.). In the silk industry, the use of water-powered mills grew, and by the 15th century, the loom designed by Jean le Calabrais saw nearly universal use.[30]

从十四世纪末开始，毫无疑问，当人们讲到黑死病造成对该世纪中叶丝绸工业的破坏时， 该工业有向更不昂贵的技术转变的一种总倾向。基尔特（译者注：基特尔是中世纪丝绸行业工匠的联合会）早期完全禁止的许多事情现在却是寻常之事（比如，用低质量的羊毛，梳理等等。）。而丝绸行业内，使用水力的工厂不断增加。到十五世纪为止，卡拉布里亚的约翰（Jean le Calabrais）设计的织机几乎经历了普遍的应用。

The silk industry in France

法国丝绸工业

A picture from the Encyclopedia of Diderot and d'Alembert, showing the different steps in sericulture and the manufacture of silk. 

狄德罗和达朗贝尔的百科全书图片, 显示了养蚕和丝绸生产的不同步骤。

Italian silk cloth was very expensive, as much a result of the cost of the raw material as of the production costs. The craftsmen in Italy proved unable to keep up with the exigencies of French fashion, which continuously demanded lighter and less expensive materials.[31] These materials were used for clothing, and garment production began to be done locally. Nevertheless, Italian silk long remained among the most prized, mostly for furnishings and the brilliant colours of the dyes.

意大利的绸布非常昂贵，作为原材料的成本的更多结果就像生产成本一样贵。意大利的工匠证明了无法跟上法国时装的急切需要，因为法国时装不仅不断地要求更轻而且更不昂贵的料子。这些料子被用于服装，而服装生产也开始在本地完成。然而，意大利丝绸在那些最珍贵的丝绸中还是长期存在了下来，而且大部分用于装饰以及染料的绚丽色彩。

Following the example of the wealthy Italian city-states of the era (Venice, Florence, Lucca, etc.), which had become the centre of the luxury textile industry, Lyon obtained a similar function in the French market. In 1466 King Louis XI decided to develop a national silk industry in Lyon. In the face of protests by the Lyonnais, he conceded and moved the silk fabrication to Tours, but the industry in Tours stayed relatively marginal. His main objective was to reduce France's trade deficit with Italy, which caused France to lose 400,000 to 500,000 golden écus a year.[32] It was under Francis I in around 1535 that a royal charter was granted to two merchants, étienne Turquet and Barthélemy Naris, to develop a silk trade in Lyon. In 1540 the king granted a monopoly on silk production to the city of Lyon. Starting in the 16th century Lyon became the capital of the European silk trade, notably producing many reputable fashions.[33] Gaining confidence, the silks produced in the city little by little began to abandon the original oriental styles and moved towards their own distinctive style, with an emphasis on landscapes. Thousand of workers, the canuts, devoted themselves to the flourishing industry. In the middle of the 17th century over 14,000 looms were in use in Lyon, and the silk industry fed a third of the city's population.[33]

仿效那个时代（威尼斯、佛罗伦萨、卢卡等）已经成了奢侈纺织品工业中心的富裕的意大利城邦之榜样，里昂在法国市场获得了类似的功能。1466年，国王路易十一决定在里昂发展国家丝绸工业。面对里昂居民的抗议，国王让了步并将丝绸制造转移到旅游业，但旅游业的丝绸工业保持在相对不太重要的地位。他的主要宗旨是削减法国和意大利的贸易赤字，因为这个贸易赤字导致法国每年失去四十万到五十万金埃居（译者注：埃居为法国古货币）。大约在弗朗索瓦一世的统治下的1535年，一个皇家特许授予权力被授予给两位商人斯蒂温?蒂尤凯（étienne Turquet）和巴泰利米?纳里斯（Barthélemy Naris）来发展里昂的丝绸贸易。1540年，国王弗朗索瓦一世准予里昂城拥有丝绸生产的垄断权。从十六世纪开始，里昂成了欧洲丝绸贸易的都城，尤其是生产了许多名牌时装。由于获得了信心，里昂生产的丝绸一点一点地开始放弃原来的东方样式而朝着他们自己的独特样式发展，具有强调风景画的特征。成千上万的工人，特别是丝绸工人投身于这项蓬勃发展的工业。17世纪中叶，里昂有一万四千多架织机在开工，而丝绸行业也喂饱了该城三分之一的人口。

A former magnanery in Luberon.

吕贝宏的一块原桑蚕地。

In the 18th and 19th centuries Provence experienced a boom in sericulture that would last until the First World War, with much of the silk produced being shipped north to Lyon. Viens and La Bastide-des-Jourdans are two of the communes of Luberon that profited the most from mulberry plantations that have since disappeared.[34] Working at home under the domestic system, silk spinning and silk treatment employed many people and increased the income of the working class.

十八世纪和十九世纪的普罗旺斯经历了一次养蚕业的繁荣。这次繁荣一直持续到了第一次世界大战，普罗旺斯生产的大部分丝绸向北而运往里昂。菲恩斯（Viens）和 茹尔当堡（La Bastide-des-Jourdans）是吕贝宏的两个市镇。它们从后来已经消失的桑树种植园中获益最多。在国内制度统治下，人们在家工作，而丝绸纺织和丝绸处理雇佣了很多人，并增加了工人阶级的收入。

Spread to other countries

向其它国家传播

Portrait of Maria Ivanovna Tatischeva by David Lüders (1759)

玛丽亚?伊万诺夫娜?塔季希瓦的肖像，戴维?吕德斯（1759）

Moscow, State TRetyakov Gallery

莫斯科国立特列季亚科夫画廊

Mme Tatischeva is shown wearing a paduasoy silk dress.

展示塔季希瓦女士穿着棱纹丝绸服。

England under Henry IV was also looking to develop a silk industry, but no opportunity arose until the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in the 1680s when hundreds of thousands of French Huguenots, many of which were skilled weavers and experts in sericulture, began immigrating to England to escape religious persecution. Some areas, including Spitalfields saw many high-quality silk workshops spring up, their products distinct from continental silk largely by the colours used.[35] Nonetheless, the British climate prevented England's domestic silk trade from becoming globally dominant.

亨利四世统治下的英国也正在盼望发展一个丝绸工业，但却没有机会。直到十七世纪八十年代，亨利四世撤销枫丹白露敕令，几十万法国胡格诺派教徒开始移民英国而逃避宗教迫害。他们当中许多是熟练的织布工和养蚕专家。包括兹比塔菲尔茨（Spitalfields）在内的一些地区历经了许多高质量的丝绸作坊像雨后春笋般地出现的状况。这些地区的产品和欧洲大陆丝绸区别主要在于使用的色彩不同。不过，不列颠的气候阻止了英国国内丝绸行业在全球发展成为主导地位的趋势。

Many envisioned starting a silk industry in the British colonies in America starting in 1619 under the reign of King James I of England. The silk industry in the Colonies never became very large. Likewise, silk was introduced to numerous other countries, including Mexico, where it was brought by Cortez in 1522. Only rarely did these new silk industries grow to any significant size.[36]

1619年，在英格兰国王詹姆斯一世统治下，许多人想象着在美国的各个英国殖民地开始一个丝绸工业。然而，这些殖民地的丝绸工业从来没有发展成很大的丝绸行业。 同样，丝绸被引入其它许多国家，包括墨西哥。墨西哥的丝绸工业是1522年科尔特斯带进来的。这些新丝绸工业只有极少数能发展成相当大的规模。

自工业革命以来的丝绸

The start of the Industrial Revolution

工业革命的开始

A Jacquard loom.

雅卡尔织机（或称提花机）。

The start of the Industrial Revolution was marked by a massive boom in the textile industry, with remarkable technological innovations made, led by the cotton industry of Great Britain. In its early years, there were often disparities in technological innovation between different stages of fabric manufacture, which encouraged complementary innovations. For example, spinning progressed much more rapidly than weaving.

由于取得了举世瞩目的技术创新，纺织行业大规模的迅速发展标志着大不列颠棉花行业领导的工业革命开始了。在工业革命早期，织物生产的不同阶段之间往往有些技术创新方面的差异。而这些差异却鼓励了互补性的创新。比如，纺纱技术的发展比编织技术要快地多。

The silk industry, however, did not gain any benefit from innovations in spinning, as silk is naturally already a thread. Making silk, silver, and gold brocades is a very delicate and precise process, with each colour needing its own dedicated shuttle. In the 17th century and 18th centuries progress began to be made in the simplification and standardization of silk manufacture, with many advances following one after another. Bouchon and Falcon's punched card loom appeared in 1775, later improved on by Jacques de Vaucanson. Later, Joseph-Marie Jacquard improved on the designs of Falcon and Vaucanson, introducing the revolutionary Jacquard loom, which allowed a string of punched cards to be processed mechanically in the correct sequence.[37] The punched cards of the Jacquard loom were a direct precursor to the modern computer, in that they gave a (limited) form of programmability. Punched cards themselves were carried over to computers, and were ubiquitous until their obsolescence in the 1970s. From 1801 embroidery became highly mechanized due to the effectiveness of the Jacquard loom. The mechanism behind the Jacquard loom even allowed complex designs to be mass produced.

然而，丝绸行业并没有从纺纱的技术创新中获得任何利益，因为丝绸自然而然地就已经是丝线了。织丝锦缎，银锦缎和金锦缎是一个非常谨慎而且精确的加工过程，因为每个颜色的丝线需要其自己专用的梭子。17世纪和18世纪，丝绸生产在简单化和标准化方面开始取得了进步，还有许多的进展也接二连三地取得了。1775年，布香（Bouchon）和福尔肯（Falcon）的穿孔卡织布机出现了。后来，雅卡尔?德?沃康桑（Jacques de Vaucanson）改善了这种织布机。再后来，约瑟夫-玛丽?雅卡尔（Joseph-Marie Jacquard）提高了福尔肯（Falcon）和沃康桑（Vaucanson）的设计，引进了完全创新的雅卡尔织机。这种织布机容许一系列穿孔卡以正确的顺序进行机械加工。而且，雅卡尔织机的这些穿孔卡是现代计算机的直接前身，因为它们提供了一种可编程的（有限）形式。这些穿孔卡本身被运用到计算机，而且非常普及，直到二十世纪七十年代它们老旧而不再有用才逐渐消失。从1801年开始，由于雅卡尔织机的有效性，绣花技术变得高度机械化。雅卡尔织机背后的系统方法甚至容许复杂的设计进行大规模生产。

The Jacquard loom was immediately denounced by workers, who accused it of causing unemployment, but soon it had become vital to the industry. The loom was declared public property in 1806, and Jacquard was rewarded with a pension and a royalty on each machine. In 1834 there were a total of 2885 Jacquard looms in Lyon alone.[33] The Canut revolt in 1831 foreshadowed many of the larger worker uprisings of the Industrial Revolution. The canuts occupied the city of Lyon, and would not relinquish it until a bloody repression by the army, led by Marshal Soult. A second revolt, similar to the first, took place in 1834.

但是，雅卡尔织机立即受到了工人们的谴责。他们指责雅卡尔织机导致了失业，但不久，雅卡尔织机对丝绸行业来说已经开始变得非常重要。1806年，该织机被宣布为公共财产，而雅卡尔被授予退休金并拥有每架织机的版权使用费。1834年，单单里昂就有总达2885台雅卡尔织机。1831年，里昂丝绸工人起义预示着工业革命中许多更大的工人起义。里昂丝绸工人占领了里昂市，直到Marshal Soult领导的军队进行了血腥的镇压都没有放弃。1834年里昂发生了和第一次起义相似的第二次丝绸工人起义。

An illustration of spinning, winding, doubling and throwing machines used in silk textile production in England, 1858.

1858年，英国丝绸纺织生产中使用的纺纱机，绕线机，并纱机和捻丝机插图。

Decline in the European silk industry

欧洲丝绸工业的衰落

Silk, cotton and gilt-metal-strip-wrapped cotton panel, machine-woven in Scotland circa 1887. Tulip motif is inspired by Turkish textiles. 

大约1887年，苏格兰一幅机织的丝绸、棉花和镀金金属条包裹的棉饰条，并受到土耳其纺织品启示的郁金香图案。

The first silkworm diseases began to appear in 1845, creating an epidemic. Among them are pébrine, caused by the microsporidia Nosema bombycis, grasserie, caused by a virus, flacherie, caused by eating infected mulberry leaves or white muscardine disease, caused by the fungus Beauveria bassiana. The epidemic grew to a massive scale, and after having attacked the silkworms, other viruses began to infect the mulberry trees. The chemist Jean-Baptiste Dumas, French minister of agriculture, was charged with stopping the epidemic. In face of sericulturers' call for help, he asked Louis Pasteur to study the disease, starting in 1865.[38] For many years, Pasteur thought that pébrine was not a contagious disease. In 1870 he changed his view, and measures were enacted that caused the disease to decline.

1845年，首批桑蚕疾病开始出现，并引起了一次流行。微粒子病由家蚕微孢子虫(学名微粒子虫属家蚕种Nosema Bombycis)引起,多角病由病毒引起，吃了受感染的桑叶而引起的家蚕软化病（flacherie), 或由真菌球孢白僵菌(学名白僵菌属球孢白僵菌Beauveria bassiana)引起的白僵病就是其中的几种。这些疾病的传播发展成了大规模，而且，在袭击了桑蚕之后，其它病毒开始感染桑树。作为法国农业部长的化学家让-巴蒂斯特?安德烈?杜马（Jean-Baptiste Dumas）掌管阻止这些疾病的传播。面对养蚕业的求助，他请路易斯?巴斯德于1865年开始研究这些疾病。多年来，巴斯德一直认为微粒子病不是一种传染性疾病。1870年，他改变了观点并制定了促使疾病传播下降的措施。

Nevertheless, the increase in the price of silkworm cocoons and the reduction in importance of silk in the garments of the bourgeoisie in the 19th century caused the decline of the silk industry in Europe. The opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 and the silk shortage in France reduced the price of importing Asian silk, particularly from China and Japan.[39]

然而，桑蚕茧价格的上升和19世纪资产阶级服装方面丝绸重要性的下降导致了欧洲丝绸行业的衰落。1869年，苏伊士运河修筑通航和法国丝绸短缺削减了亚洲丝绸的进口价格，特别是中国和日本的丝绸。

Starting from the Long Depression (1873 – 1896), Lyonnais silk production had become totally industrialized, and hand looms were rapidly disappearing. The 19th century saw the textile industry's progress caused by advances in chemistry. The synthesis of aniline was used to make mauveine (aniline purple) dye and the synthesis of quinine was used to make indigo dye. In 1884 Count Hilaire de Chardonnet invented artificial silk and in 1891 opened a factory dedicated to the production of artificial silk (viscose), which cost much less and in part replaced natural silk.

从长萧条（1873年至1896年）开始，里昂的丝绸生产已开始发展为完全工业化，而手动织机则迅速消失。19世纪是以化学进步而引起纺织工业发展为特点的。苯胺的合成法被用于制造苯胺紫染料，而奎宁（或金鸡纳碱）的合成法则被用于制造靛蓝染料。1884年，伯爵伊莱尔?德?夏杜内（Count Hilaire de Chardonnet）发明了人造丝，并于1891年开办了一家致力于生产人造丝（粘胶）的工厂。这种人造丝的成本要低的多，而且在一定程度上取代了天然丝绸。

Silk in modern times

现代丝绸

Following the crisis in Europe, the modernization of sericulture in Japan made it the world's foremost silk producer. Italy managed to rebound from the crisis, but France was never able to. Urbanization in Europe saw many French and Italian agricultural workers leave silk growing for more lucrative factory work. Raw silk was imported from Japan to fill the void.[5] Asian countries, formerly exporters of raw materials (cocoons and raw silk), progressively began to export more and more finished garments.

欧洲危机之后，日本养蚕业的现代化使其成为了世界上最重要的丝绸生产国。意大利成功地从经济危机中再次回升，但法国却再也没能恢复。欧洲的城市化却是以许多法国和意大利农业工人离开丝绸行业，越来越多地人去了利润更丰厚的工厂工作为特点。从日本进口的生丝填补了欧洲丝绸的空白。从前为原材料（蚕茧和生丝）出口的亚洲国家逐渐地开始出口越来越多的成衣。

During the Second World War, silk supplies from Japan were cut off, so western countries were forced to find substitutes. Synthetic fibres such as nylon were used in products such as parachutes and stockings, replacing silk. Even after the war, silk was not able to regain many of the markets lost, though it remained an expensive luxury product.[5] Postwar Japan, through improvements in technology and a protectionist market policy, became the world's foremost exporter of raw silk, a position it held until the 1970s.[5] The continued rise in importance of synthetic fibres and loosening of the protectionist economy contributed to the decline of Japan's silk industry, and by 1975 it was no longer a net exporter of silk.[40]

第二次世界大战期间，因为日本的丝绸供应被切断，所以西方国家被迫找到替代品。合成纤维，诸如尼龙，代替丝绸而被用于降落伞和长筒袜等产品当中。即使在战后，虽然丝绸仍然还是一种昂贵的奢侈产品，但丝绸还是无法重新获得许多已经失去的市场。战后的日本通过技术改进和贸易保护主义市场政策而成了世界上最重要的生丝出口国。这种状况一直持续到了二十世纪七十年代。合成纤维的重要性不断提高以及贸易保护主义经济政策的放宽促进了日本丝绸行业的衰落，而且，到1975年为止，日本不再是丝绸纯出口国了。

A woman making silk in Hotan, China.

中国和田的一名造丝妇女。

With its recent economic reforms, the People's Republic of China has become the world's largest silk producer. In 1996 it produced 58,000 tonnes out of a world production of 81,000, followed by India at 13,000 tonnes. Japanese production is now marginal, at only 2500 tonnes. Between 1995 and 1997 Chinese silk production went down 40% in an effort to raise prices, reminiscent of earlier shortages.[41]

中国人民共和国凭借其最近的经济改革已成为世界上最大的丝绸生产国。1996年，中国生产出了世界总产量81,000吨中的58,000吨丝绸，其次是印度的13,000吨，而现在日本丝绸生产的产量很微小，只有2500吨。1995年至1997年之间，中国丝绸生产为了提高价格而下降了40％，使人想起较早些时候的物质短缺。
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In December 2006 the General Assembly of the United Nations proclaimed 2009 to be the International Year of Natural Fibres, so as to raise the profile of silk and other natural fibres.

2006年12月，联合国大会宣布2009年为国际天然纤维年，以便提高丝绸和其他天然纤维的形象。