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What Did It Take to Move Silk Production Beyond China? - How Sericulture Crossed Mountains and Deserts | Sleepy Facts About History
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The history of silk is usually remembered as a tale of espionage—a single hidden formula guarded by China until clever monks smuggled silkworm eggs to the Byzantine emperor Justinian in hollow walking sticks. This satisfying narrative of a stolen secret overlooks a much more complex reality. Silk production was never a single transferable object. It was a complete biological and agricultural package requiring mulberry orchards, domesticated silkworms, precise temperature control, and the…
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