Leizu biography samples
Leizu
Legendary Chinese empress
Leizu (Chinese: 嫘祖; pinyin: Léi Zǔ), also known as Xi Ling-shi (Chinese: 西陵氏, Wade–Giles Hsi Ling-shih), was a mythical Chineseempress and wife of the Yellow Emperor.
According to tradition, she discovered sericulture, and invented the silk loom, in the 27th century BC.
Myths
According to legend, Leizu discovered silkworms while having an afternoon tea, and a cocoon fell in her tea. It slowly unraveled and she was enchanted by it.
According to one account, a silkworm cocoon fell into her tea, and the heat unwrapped the silk until it stretched across her entire garden.
Goddess of Silk: Leizu. Chinese women processing silk Silk was the most coveted textile in the planet. From Rome to China, great empires sought for this prized cloth. Made from an unexpected insect, it gave China a monopoly on its production.When the silk ran out, she saw a small cocoon and realized that this cocoon was the source of the silk. Another version says that she found silkworms eating the mulberry leaves and spinning cocoons. She collected some cocoons, then sat down to have some tea. While she was sipping a cup, she dropped a cocoon into the steaming liquid.
A fine thread started to separate itself from the silkworm cocoon. Leizu found that she could unwind this soft and lovely thread around her finger.
She persuaded her husband to give her a grove of mulberry trees, where she could domesticate the worms that made these cocoons.
She belonged to the Fang Lei clan of the Xiling State. Leizu, the granddaughter-in-law of Nuwa, is mentioned in "Records of the Grand Historian" as the wife whom the Yellow Emperor married from the Xiling clan. She is credited with inventing sericulture, and she is known as the "Silkworm Mother" or the one who initiated sericulture. She traveled throughout the country, teaching people about silkworm rearing and silk production.She is attributed with inventing the silk reel, which joins fine filaments into a thread strong enough for weaving. She is also credited with inventing the first silk loom. It is not known how much, if any, of this story is true, but historians do know that China was the first civilization to operate silk.
Leizu shared the art of silk with all of China and even other countries later on.
The Goddess of Silk: Leizu and Her Cultural Impact: Leizu (Chinese: 嫘祖; pinyin: Léi Zǔ), also known as Xi Ling-shi (Chinese: 西陵氏, Wade–Giles Hsi Ling-shih), was a epic Chinese empress and wife of the Yellow Emperor. Read more on Wikipedia. Since , the English Wikipedia page of Leizu has received more than , page views.She is a popular object of worship in modern China, with the title of 'Silkworm Mother' (Cán năinai, 蠶奶奶).[1]
Leizu had two known sons with the Yellow Emperor named Shaohao and Changyi, with the latter the father of Zhuanxu.
Zhuanxu's uncles and his father, the sons of Yellow Emperor, were bypassed and Zhuanxu was selected as heir.[2]
References
- ^Fan Lizhu, "The Cult of the Milkworm Mother as a Core of a Local Community Religion in a North China Village: Field Analyze in Zhiwuying, Baoding, Hebei," The China Quarterly No.
(Jun. ),
- ^Asiapac Editorial (). Great Chinese emperors: tales of wise and benevolent rule (revised&#;ed.). Asiapac Books Pte Ltd. p.&#;9.In the days not long after the pharaohs in Egypt, there lived a woman in China. Leizu say lee - zhoo was an empress. She lived in a beautiful palace in China. The palace had a vast garden filled with many trees and flowers.
ISBN&#;. Retrieved
Further reading
- Kuhn, Dieter (). "Tracing a Chinese Legend: In Search of the Identity of the 'First Sericulturalist.'" T'oung Pao &#;