Tongxiang's humble silkworm a symbol of China's culture, trade

In spring, Zhejiang province's 'capital of silk' goes all out to celebrate production, history of elegant fabric

China is justifiably famous for its animal kingdom: The pandas of Sichuan province are incredibly cute, the elephants of Yunnan province are certainly majestic, and the Amur leopards of Jilin province are exceedingly rare.

When measured by their overall contribution to China's cultural heritage, however, one could argue that none of these famous animals can compare to a much smaller creature. For more than 2,000 years, it's been the humble, tiny silkworm whose cocoons have been transformed into the elegant fabric synonymous with luxury - and with Chinese trade.

Left: Foreign visitors learn about making silk quilts in Tongxiang, a city known as China's "capital of silk". Provided to China Daily; right: A local resident demonstrates silk making processes in Tongxiang. Li Jin / China Daily

There's no better place to witness this miraculous creature at work than Tongxiang, a beautiful city along the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal in Zhejiang province. Though it's less than an hour's ride on the high-speed train from downtown Shanghai, Tongxiang is a world apart, with areas preserved or recreated to resemble the traditional Chinese water town of legend, and for that reason, it's become a popular destination with tourists, both domestic and foreign.

No one knows the exact location where the wonderful properties of this fabric were first discovered, but Tongxiang has been known as China's "capital of silk" since ancient times, and the city is still home to numerous villagers turning out the fabric in the old-fashioned way - weaving straw frames for the caterpillars to nest, harvesting the filament-like cocoons, then boiling the cocoons to soften the fibers, taking care to save enough silkworms to produce the next generation. Several of those fibers are then wound together, forming a single thread of silk.