When did the silk production begin?
As early as the 12th century, the Chinese were the first to produce silk. They used it to make winter clothes, bow-strings, fishing-nets since silk was a very cheap product in China.
Yet, silk was introduced as a luxury fabric in the western countries when Japan became dominant in the silk production by the late19th century as China started to decline.
Today, China has been exporting large quantities of silk again.
The Silk production in Lyon
In Lyon, the silk production started in 1536 and became an industry when the first weaving machines were invented. Then , the silk industry in Lyon was so popular that it was exported everywhere in the world.
Unfortunately, the Canuts’riots in 1831 and 1834 (the Canuts were the silk workers) in the Croix-Rousse area and the invention of the industrialized silk put an end to the golden age of the silk production in Lyon at the end of the 19th century.
The Marché de la Soie is going to show some of the best-quality silk works made by the silk workshops in Lyon from 26th to 29th November in Palais de la Bourse, Lyon 2.
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