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Though the Chinese dress system came into being during the Xia and Shang Dynasties in the 2nd millennium BCE, it was perfected during the Zhou Dynasty the following millennium
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It is believed that China was the place where silk was first woven from domesticated silkworms. According to legend, in third millennium BCE, Si Lin Chi, the wife of Emperor Huang Ti Hsi-ling-shi, discovered silk when a cocoon dropped into her hot tea and silk fibers were revealed. For almost 2,000 years, the Chinese kept the technique of securing silk and making fabrics a secret from the outside world. During the 3rd century BCE, Alexander the Great was given the credit for discovering silk in India. For centuries afterwards, people in the West could only import silk as the technique to secure this mysterious new fabric and weave fabrics from it was still unknown to them.
Recent research suggests that at least wild silk was used to make textiles in the ancient Indus Valley civilization though there is no evidence for the domestication of silkworms as in China where silk weaving was perfected. The silkworm itself is native to upper India.  |
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