Editing Bombyx mori (section)

=== China ===
{{See also|Horse in Chinese mythology#Origins of sericulture}}
In China, a legend indicates the discovery of the silkworm's silk was by an ancient empress named [[Leizu]], the wife of the [[Yellow Emperor]], also known as Xi Lingshi. She was drinking tea under a tree when a silk cocoon fell into her tea. As she picked it out and started to wrap the silk thread around her finger, she slowly felt a warm sensation. When the silk ran out, she saw a small larva. In an instant, she realized this caterpillar larva was the source of the silk. She taught this to the people and it became widespread. Many more legends about the silkworm are told.

The Chinese guarded their knowledge of silk, but, according to one story, a Chinese princess given in marriage to a [[Kingdom of Khotan|Khotan]] prince brought to the oasis the secret of silk manufacture, "hiding silkworms in her hair as part of her dowry", probably in the first half of the first century AD.<ref>Sarah Underhill Wisseman, Wendell S. Williams. ''Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials ''. Routledge, 1994. {{ISBN|2-88124-632-X}}. Page 131.</ref> About AD 550, Christian monks are said to have [[Smuggling of silkworm eggs into the Byzantine Empire|smuggled]] silkworms hidden in a hollow stick out of China, selling the secret to the eastern Romans.