Shunde Silk

Shunde Silk

　　Shunde Silk

　　As early as the Song Dynasty, Shunde began cultivating mulberry trees and raising silkworms. For thousands of years, this tradition has never been interrupted, producing some of the finest silk. Today, countless mulberry trees have given way to urban high-rises, and Shunde silk may now only live on in memory.

　　Shunde silk is a key specialty of Guangdong, generating substantial income and serving as a major export. Located in the Pearl River Delta, Shunde is a prosperous land of fish and rice. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, local sericulturists improved mulberry varieties, gradually replacing the low-yield, short-stemmed, and narrow-leaved native mulberries with hybrid superior varieties. Mulberry leaf yields increased exponentially, spurring tremendous growth in silkworm farming. By the early 1980s, Shunde was producing hundreds of thousands of dan (a traditional unit of weight) of cocoons annually, making it a high-quality, best-selling export product for the nation.