“Silk Homeland”：The Emergence and Spread of National Discourse in Modern Chinese Sericulture

Sericulture has a history of thousands of years in China,but the concept of the “Silk Homeland” only emerged in the early 20th century.Its origin is related to the rise and spread of national discourse in modern China.The national discourse of sericulture emerged in the context of international silk trade and was closely associated with the national transformation of modern China.In the early 20th century,China’s silk exports were surpassed by Japan,leading scholars in the sericulture field to attempt to inspire their countrymen to catch up by using the concept of the “Silk Homeland” amidst anxiety and dissatisfaction.They integrated scattered records of sericulture from traditional literature into a comprehensive “history of Chinese sericulture,” combined with sericulture archaeology,systematically demonstrating the concept of the “Silk Homeland” and providing scholarly support,making it a well-known common knowledge among the Chinese.The “history of Chinese sericulture” was jointly shaped by the international silk trade and academic sericulture in modern China,becoming the foundation and prerequisite for further advancement of the current sericulture discipline system.