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When did Chinese records first mention silk production?
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An annotated diagram showing how an operator uses a hand wheel, rollers, and spindles on a spinning jenny to draw and twist unspun fiber into thread.
According to native Chinese records, silk production has existed since sometime before the middle of the 3rd millennium BCE. The origins of the industry are ancient and intertwined with legend, including the story of the wife of the mythological Yellow Emperor, Huangdi, who is credited with teaching the art of sericulture to the Chinese people.1