Adeline Yen Mah's Blog, page 5

The cocoons are steamed to kill the worms inside, then they are dipped in hot water to loosen the silk filaments. These filaments are unwound and six to eight filaments are twisted together to make a silk thread. The threads are woven into cloth.

Over the years, the Chinese were able to breed a species of silk moth that is blind and unable to fly. Each lays 500 or more eggs in a few days and then dies. After hatching, the baby worms are fed on freshly chopped mulberry leaves day and night for about a month until they become fat. Each then spins a cocoon around itself, and this is where the silk comes from. Every cocoon is made of a filament about 800 meters (875 yards) long.

Legend says that silk was first made by the wife of the Yellow Emperor 5000 years ago. She kept silkworms and invented the loom. Silk fragments, ribbons and threads dating from the 3000 BC have been found in eastern China

The five primary colors in China are:

Red Black Yellow White Green

Blue is not one of the five primary colors in China. It is the color of the ocean, the sky and immortality. According to legend，the universe began as an egg. Out of the egg hatched a man named Pan Gu. Half of Pan Gu's shell became the sky above, and the other half formed the ocean below. Pan Gu grew for 18000 years，separating the sky from the ocean further and further. Finally he collapsed and became immortal.

Green is the color of plants，trees，and woods。It corresponds to spring and the East and has a strange meaning in China。A man who wears a green hat has a wife who is cheating on him. Chinese men avoid green hats, especially if they have beautiful wives.

Yellow is the color of earth. It corresponds to the Center. Yellow was reserved for the Emperor and members of the imperial family. No commoner was allowed to wear imperial yellow colors, except by permission from the Emperor. To be given a yellow jacket by the Emperor was a mark of special favor.

The word white also signifies uselessness and lack of success.

White speech means wasted argument.

White walking means a trip taken in vain.

White arrival means useless visit.

Eating white rice means sponging off one's host.

When my grandmother died, my big sister and I walked behind her coffin wearing white clothes with white ribbons in our hair.

For thousands of years, white used to be the color of mourning and death.

White is the color of metal. It corresponds to autumn and the West. White is not a lucky color for Chinese people.