Silkworm Sericulture and Silk Production System

Timeline

1. 1451–1456Nanjing weaving bureau · JiangnanDuring the Jingtai emperor's (Zhu Qiyu) reign, the official weaving bureaus in Nanjing and Suzhou continued to expand capacity, supplying large quantities of ceremonial silk to restore court prestige after the Tumu Crisis; encouraged by local officials, private sericulture households expanded mulberry orchards, and Jiangsu–Zhejiang saw early prototypes of ecological cycling agriculture such as mulberry-dike fish ponds.
2. 1457–1460Quanzhou and Guangzhou ports · South ChinaAfter the Zhengtong emperor's restoration (first year of Tianshun, 1457), the tributary trade system gradually recovered; silk, the most important gift and trade commodity, flowed through Guangzhou and Quanzhou to Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean coast, and the Persian Gulf, consolidating Ming dominance in the global silk market and further spreading sericulture techniques to Ryukyu, Japan, and Vietnam.