Silk has set the standard in luxury fabrics for several millennia. The origins of silk date back to Ancient China. Legend has it that a Chinese princess was sipping tea in her garden when a cocoon fell into her cup, and the hot tea loosened the long...

In recent years, China, with strong support from the government, has become the biggest silk producer in the world, but only in terms of total output and output of raw materials. According to the Foreign Economy Department and the Cocoon and Silk...

The finest silk is soon stained....

Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from cocoons made by the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity (sericulture). The shimmering appearance...

SILK by Mary Schoeser, foreword by Julien Macdonald "Luxurious, sensual, versatile and refined, silk reigns supreme among all textile fibers. Made by worms, it is warmer than wool and is unsurpassed for beauty and texture," intones Silk's front cover flap. Indeed, silk can...

Eighteenth-century Europeans of means were the ultimate consumers, and they were particularly captivated by luxurious and exotic goods, including Chinese silks. Both the French and the British began trading with China starting in the late seventeenth century and of all the commodities imported,...

From the ancient oasis towns of Central Asia, we retraced the epic journeys traveled along the Silk Road through desolate mountains and deserts, through busy bazaars and crumbling mud-brick towns. Along the way, we followed the footsteps made...

For decades, officials have dreamed of a railway network spanning Asia, linking cities as diverse as Kuala Lumpur and Kabul, Yangon and Yerevan. Greater connections among existing rail networks would bring remote inland regions and landlocked countries closer to vibrant...