Yasi

Yasi

　　According to an ancient legend, in the distant past, in Xiling Linju (present-day Yuan’an County, Yichang), there was a young girl whose father had gone off to war. She missed him terribly and playfully said to her horse, “If you can bring my father back to me, I will marry you.” Upon hearing this, the horse broke free of its reins and galloped away. The father returned home riding the horse. When the horse saw the girl, it neighed and refused to eat. The girl told her father what had happened, and in anger, he killed the horse and skinned it, then left the hide to dry in the courtyard. As the girl walked past the dried hide, it suddenly sprang to life, coiled around her, and carried her off, settling in the branches of a large tree. Both the girl and the horsehide transformed into silkworms, which spun silk on the tree. From then on, the tree was called “sang” (mulberry), as “sang” also implies “mourning.”

　　　　Later, when the Yellow Emperor fought Chiyou on the battlefield of Banquan, after three battles, he struck the ground with his whip here, causing the silkworms to fall and a maiden to emerge. The maiden spun silk into garments, which pleased the Yellow Emperor so much that he took her as his wife and made her his principal consort. This maiden never knew fatigue, and thus was named Leizu. She is revered by the people as the Silkworm Goddess. Her hometown is now Goujiaya Town in Yuan’an County, and the silk produced there came to be known as “Yasi.”

　　　　This account is based on historical texts such as *Records of the Grand Historian*, *The Classic of Mountains and Seas*, *Ode to Silkworms*, and *Supplement to the Original Transformations*. Later historical evidence includes: the *Yiling Prefecture Annals* from the ninth year of the Hongzhi reign of the Ming Dynasty, the *Hubei General Annals · Goods Category* from the third year of the Xuantong reign of the Qing Dynasty, and the *Yuan’an County Annals* from the ninth year of the Kangxi reign, all of which record that “Yasi” was an imperial tribute product. It was exported annually under the “Golden Arhat” trademark and remained continuously popular... Although silk was produced in many regions, “Yasi” was the most renowned, eagerly sought after by Western Europeans...