4 the silk goddess 



Notes 



1) North of the bridge leading to the Kiung hwa tao island. 



2) The present enclosure was put up under Yung tching in 1742, but its 

 buildings, savs W. Williams, II, 23, are now much dilapidated. 



3) W. Williams, Middle Kingdom, R. Ed., vol. I. p. 71 ; II, 33. 



4) J, H. Gray, China, vol. II, p. 2 20. On a fortunate day in the 

 spring of each year, her state worship is duly solemnized by the Man- 

 darins. — In the interesting description of Peking by the Rev. Joseph 

 Edkins, printed in A. Williamson : Journeys in North China, 1870, 

 vol. II, we find the following statements : " On the North side (of the 

 lake) is a hill on an island called Kiung hwa tao, capped by a white 

 pagoda or dagoba. Here there is an altar on the hill side to the 

 originator of silk manufactures and to the presiding genius of the silk- 

 worm ; the altar wall is 1600 feet round and the altar itself forty feet 

 in circuit, and four feet high. Round it are mulberry trees, and near 

 it a tank for washing the worrrs. The Empress comes here annuaUy 

 t-j feed the silkworms, which are kept in a house suitable for the pur- 

 pose ; she thus jsets an example of industry to the working women of 

 the empire." Cf. p. 335.- — " On a fortunate day of the ninth month, 

 the empress, either personally or by proxy, accompanied by a train of 

 princesses and honourable ladies, repairs to the altar sacred to the dis- 

 coverer of silkworms. After sacrificing, the empress with golden, and 

 the princesses with silver implements, collect the mulberry leaves to 

 feed the imperial silkworms. They, then, wind off some cocoons of 

 silk, and so end the ceremony. This very ancient festival is considered 

 as the counterpart of the agriculture one, observed by the emperor in 

 the spring." M. Murrow. Hongkong Chronicle and Directory for 1865, 

 in J, H. Gray, China, vol. II, p. 220. 



I. 



3. Silk industry is indigenous in China as the silkworm itself. It has 

 not been brought into the country by its ancient civilisers the Bak tribes, 

 neither by any of the other races, like the Jungs, who also immigrated 

 into China in remote times. We cannot be surprised therefore if the 

 Chinese traditions about the silkworm rearing and the silk industry are 

 by far the oldest and hitherto the only ancient ones on the subject. 



4. Legend attributes the art of winding the silkworms' cocoons to the 

 time of the first leader of the Pre-Chinese Bak tribes, while they were 

 established as yet on the North-west borders of present China proper. 

 This leader commonly known as Hwang-ti, but whose complete name was 

 Nak hunte 6 married four wives; 7 the first of them from the clan of Si- 

 ling, 8 and named ^MjlE Lui-ts u, 9 is the one who is said to have begun 

 to rear silkworms. She has been deified and she is still worshipped for 

 that reason at the (.*fe) Sien-tsan or ancient silkworms' altar. 10 She is 

 also called -jq ^j3 Yuen-fei or first wife. 11 We shall examine these various 



