<P> Silk cultivation spread to Japan around 300 AD, and, by 522 AD, the Byzantines managed to obtain silkworm eggs and were able to begin silkworm cultivation . The Arabs also began to manufacture silk during this same time . As a result of the spread of sericulture, Chinese silk exports became less important, although they still maintained dominance over the luxury silk market . The Crusades brought silk production to Western Europe, in particular to many Italian states, which saw an economic boom exporting silk to the rest of Europe . Changes in manufacturing techniques also began to take place during the Middle Ages, with devices such as the spinning wheel first appearing . During the 16th century France joined Italy in developing a successful silk trade, though the efforts of most other nations to develop a silk industry of their own were unsuccessful . </P> <P> The Industrial Revolution changed much of Europe's silk industry . Due to innovations on spinning cotton, cotton became much cheaper to manufacture and therefore caused more expensive silk production to become less mainstream . New weaving technologies, however, increased the efficiency of production . Among these was the Jacquard loom, developed for silk embroidery . An epidemic of several silkworm diseases caused production to fall, especially in France, where the industry never recovered . In the 20th century Japan and China regained their earlier role in silk production, and China is now once again the world's largest producer of silk . The rise of new fabrics such as nylon reduced the prevalence of silk throughout the world, and silk is now once again a rare luxury good, much less important than in its heyday . </P> <P> The earliest evidence of silk was found at the sites of Yangshao culture in Xia County, Shanxi, where a silk cocoon was found cut in half by a sharp knife, dating back to between 4000 and 3000 BC . The species was identified as Bombyx mori, the domesticated silkworm . Fragments of primitive loom can also be seen from the sites of Hemmed culture in Yuyao, Zhejiang, dated to about 4000 BC . The earliest example of silk fabric is from 3630 BC, and was used as wrapping for the body of a child . The fabric comes from a Yangshao site in Qingtaicun at Rongyang, Henan . Scraps of silk were found in a Liangzhu culture site at Qianshanyang in Huzhou, Zhejiang, dating back to 2700 BC . Other fragments have been recovered from royal tombs in the Shang Dynasty (c. 1600--c. 1046 BCE). </P> <P> During the later epoch, the Chinese lost their secret to the Koreans, the Japanese, and, later, the Indians, as these cultures discovered how to make silk . Allusions to the fabric in the Old Testament show that it was known in western Asia in biblical times . Scholars believe that starting in the 2nd century BCE the Chinese established a commercial network aimed at exporting silk to the West . Silk was used, for example, by the Persian court and its king, Darius III, when Alexander the Great conquered the empire . Even though silk spread rapidly across Eurasia, with the possible exception of Japan its production remained exclusively Chinese for three millennia . </P>

When did silk begin to be produced in china