China is the first country in the world to invent silkworm breeding and silk weaving techniques. As early as 3000 BC, the Chinese had successfully domesticated wild silkworms and used silk to weave silk fabrics. Silk fabric technology was monopolized by China for hundreds of years. Its weaving technology was a complicated craft at the time, and it attracted people's attention because of its unique feel and luster. Silk has always been used by the emperor of China and is most appreciated by foreigners. One of the luxury goods. At first, China strictly controlled the spread of silk weaving and sericulture technology and prohibited it from flowing to foreign countries. Therefore, from the brief history of the development of China in the past dynasties, as shown in Figure 4, the rulers have established strict organization and management institutions for silk production. .
Yuan Dynasty silk has distinctive characteristics of the times. The first official agricultural book "Nongsang Ji Yao" in history was published nationwide. In the Yuan Dynasty, a large number of official workshops were set up, and a large number of excellent craftsmen across the country gathered to collect silk raw materials to carry out large-scale production on an unprecedented scale. The huge government-run weaving system was an important feature of silk production in the Yuan Dynasty, which had a certain inhibitory effect on folk silk production.
During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, due to the budding and development of capitalism, the commercialization trend of silk production and the rapid development of silk overseas trade. In the early Ming Dynasty, a series of measures were taken to form a regional intensive production centered on the south of the Yangtze River, among which Suzhou, Hangzhou, Song, Jia, and Hu were the five major silk towns. After the mid-Ming Dynasty, the social atmosphere gradually became extravagant. Under the conditions of commodity economy and professional division of labor, the silk industry and commerce in the Jiangnan region enjoyed great prosperity, and it was also the most active period of China's silk development.
The silk industry in the early Qing Dynasty further concentrated in the Taihu Lake area and the Pearl River Delta, especially the Jiangnan area became the center of the national silk industry in terms of scale and level. During the period, the scale of production of the private silk industry has expanded, the professional and regional division of labor has become more obvious, the products have become more abundant, and a number of prosperous silk professional towns have emerged, as shown in Figure 12. In terms of foreign trade, the Qing Dynasty imposed maritime bans, strengthened restrictions on foreign trade, and implemented one-port trade. In the late Qing Dynasty, China's silk industry was in trouble under the double blow of excessive taxes and dumping of foreign silk.
In the Western Han Dynasty, the capital of Chang'an set up a government weaving workshop dedicated to the royal family, which was equipped with a weaving room, a violence room (a department in charge of silk dyeing and training) and a clothing officer, specializing in weaving embroidery for the rule of the Western Han Dynasty The clothing of the suburban temple. The service officer is an official in Hanshi who specializes in supervising and managing the production of royal fabrics and apparel. The "three clothes" are the first clothes (spring clothes), winter clothes, and summer clothes. Fine silk products such as Qi and embroidery. The expenses used by these government-run silk weaving industries are very staggering.
The institutional setting of government-run silk production in the Tang Dynasty was divided into 25 workshops in four major systems under the Shaofu Supervision Department of Weaving and Dyeing, supplemented by internal officials, Yeting Bureau, Royal Court and local official Jinfang, etc. The most complete system among government-run silk workshops.
These government-run agencies are the Weaving and Dyeing Department with the largest scale. There are 25 "workers" under this organization, of which 10 "workers" specialize in weaving, which are engaged in the production of silk, yarn, Luo, silk, silk, brocade, and cloth; There are five "work" specializing in the production of ribbons, respectively manufacturing group, ribbon, ribbon, rope, and tassel; there are four "work" specializing in spinning silk, respectively producing silk, thread, string and net; there are six "work" "Specializing in dyeing, they are responsible for dyeing the system colors of six basic tones of blue, crimson, yellow, white, soap, and purple.
The official silk production organization in the Song Dynasty was similar to that of the Tang Dynasty, but the scale was far greater than that of the Tang Dynasty. In addition to the Lingjin Institute, Inner Dyeing Institute, Wensi Institute, and Wenxiu Institute in Beijing, the official silk production workshops also set up official weaving institutions in important silk production areas. Such as the Jinyuan in Hangzhou, Suzhou and Chengdu, the Lingyuan in Kaifeng, the Zhiluo Bureau in Runzhou, and the Lingqichang in Zizhou. Outfield yards generally use one or two fabrics as the main production varieties.
In addition to the establishment of central dyeing and weaving institutions in Nanjing and Beijing, the government-run weaving industry of the Ming Dynasty also established local weaving and dyeing bureaus in Suzhou, Hangzhou, and more than 20 places across the country, responsible for supplying the satin needed by the court and the government every year. match. According to the management system of the Ming Dynasty, weaving can be divided into court bureaus and local bureaus. Ming set up bureaus in Nanjing, Suzhou and Hangzhou to weave silk fabrics used in the palace.
The government-run weaving system in the Qing Dynasty abolished the craftsmanship system of the Ming Dynasty and established the management system of "buying silk and recruiting craftsmen". The overall scale was reduced compared with the Ming Dynasty. Important ones are Jiangning Weaving Bureau, Suzhou Weaving Bureau and Hangzhou Weaving Bureau, collectively known as "Jiangnan Three Weaving", responsible for supplying all kinds of silk fabrics needed by the court and government. See Figure 14 and Figure 15. The Jiangning Weaving Bureau was restored in the second year of Shunzhi in the Qing Dynasty (1645); the Hangzhou Bureau and the Suzhou Bureau were both rebuilt in the fourth year of Shunzhi (1647). After the 7th year of Kangxi (1686), weaving began to gradually embark on a normal path. In the tenth year of Emperor Qianlong, the total number of craftsmen in the Third Jiangnan Bureau was about 7,000. In the 30th year of Guangxu, the Qing government abolished the Jiangning Weaving Bureau on the grounds of material difficulties, marking the decline of the official handicraft industry in the Qing Dynasty. The two weaving bureaus in Suzhou and Hangzhou ended with the end of the Qing Dynasty.
