24 Solar Terms | Grain Buds

May 21 marks the beginning of "Xiaoman", or "Grain Buds", the eighth of the 24 solar terms of a year according to the Chinese lunar calendar. As implied by its English name, Xiaoman is the subtle period of time when the grains are about to ripen but are not quite there yet. The temperature gaps between the south and the north narrow, and summer gradually becomes the most dominant season.
On this day in southern China, people worship the God of silkworms for a good harvest.
Mulberry leaves grow during this time, and it is recorded in the Worthy Records of the Qing Dynasty that, "When Xiaoman comes, silkworm-raising women cook cocoons and reel silk, working day and night."
Sericulture and silk craftsmanship of China, especially in Zhejiang province, have an ancient history.
Located in the Grand Canal basin, Linping has always been a famous silkworm town.
"As China's national intangible cultural heritage rinsing silk wadding in Linping has a history of more than 4,900 years," Shen Meili, inheritor of rinsing silk wadding skill, told us, the skill has long been passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. The process of making rinsing silk wadding includes selection, boiling, rinsing, stripping, stretching and drying.
The spotlessly white and extremely soft rinsing silk wadding here has good elasticity and even thickness without impurity.
Merchants were attracted due to the Grand Canal’s convenient location for trading since ancient time. During Kaiyuan period of the Tang Dynasty, silk was listed as tribute and it was sold to Japan in the Qing Dynasty.
More than 800 cocoons can only make about 0.5kg of silk, which makes it more precious.
The manufacturing craftsmanship of rinsing silk wadding was included in the "catalogue of national representative of intangible heritage culture items" in 2008 and as a sub-item of "China sericulture and silk weaving", in the Masterpieces of the Intangible Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2009.
Integrating into the charm of Jiangnan water town, sericulture has long become a symbol rooted in people's memory.

Видео 24 Solar Terms | Grain Buds канала The Tide