Smuggling Domesticated Silkworms along the Silk Roads, Curator's Corner S9 Ep 8: The Silk Princess, September 26, 2024
At some point around AD 600-700, a legend started spreading about a princess who snuck mulberry tree seeds and silkworm eggs into the Buddhist kingdom of Khotan (present-day northwest China). Sericulture, the ancient Chinese technique of silk farming, had been kept a secret for thousands of years. Integral to this technique were silkworms that had been bred to evolve into moths without wings, and needed a strict diet of white mulberry tree leaves (morus alba). Khotan desperately wanted access to this incredibly lucrative business, and so a political marriage (with a little act of matrimonial smuggling) was arranged with a princess from a nearby 'eastern kingdom'. The princess hid mulberry tree seeds and silkworm eggs in her headdress, crossed the border, married the king, introduced sericulture to her new kingdom, guaranteed that her wardrobe was continually updated with fresh silk robes and eventually became a venerated figure of near-saintly status - not bad for a single day's smuggling? Join curator Yu-ping Luk for a legendary journey along the Silk Roads. The British Museum
