Even grade school children have heard of silk worms but when you see the ingenious silk extraction process for yourself you may be as fascinated by it as we were. The silk worms are cultivated here in a controlled environment and are ready to produce silk within about 50 days of hatching. Oval in shape, the silk cocoons are similar in size and appearance to one or two typical cotton balls. At the zenith of the cocoon production phase of the silk worm's life cycle it is taken to a spinning machine where workers tease out the end of the single thread of silk being produced and attach it to a spindle. As the spindle turns the silk worm produces copious amounts of silk in response to the steady but gentle pull, tumbling like a loose spool of thread all the while. The cords of hair-like raw silk taken from spindle can then be used in fabric making.

more pictures from a Beijing Silk Factory

In the final stage of the process the cocoon itself is opened, gently stretched over a wire rack and is typically used for making silk blankets. Even the 'worm' itself - actually it is an insect - is set aside for use in making an extract that is thought by some to have medicinal qualities.

The prices of silk items here being about one fourth of the cost of comparable merchandise in the United States we bought a lot of silk. It was the best deal of the day.