One of just a few remaining silkworm farmers left in Taiwan, Tu Chuan-ming (涂泉明) said that he is determined to continue locally producing the material, despite its decline in the late 1990s.
The government at one time sought to establish a local silk industry and from the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, there were many shops on the roadside selling silkworms.
Science classes at schools still have students raise silkworms and observe their development from silkworm to silk moth, giving them a first-hand understanding of where the silk mentioned in history textbooks came from.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
The Taiwanese silkworm industry declined due to higher overhead costs in production compared with other countries, Tu said, adding that by 1992, the government had abandoned the project and was bailing out silkworm farmers.
“Silk is a valuable product loaded with history and cultural memory, and we should try to hold on to the industry, given that the government invested tremendous resources in it in the past,” Tu said.
He said the most tiring job is obtaining enough mulberry leaves from his 2 hectare mulberry field to feed the silkworms.
The average time between a silkworm being born and starting to produce silk is about 25 days, during which time the worm mainly feeds on mulberry leaves, Tu said.
On the farm, Tu attempts to make each silkworm spread its silk out into a level plane instead of a silk cocoon, he said, adding that each silkworm might produce 1,100m to 1,200m of silk thread.
The finished sheet of silk is wrapped in cloth and submerged in a pot of boiling water with baking soda and soap, Tu said.
The process removes any filth remaining on the raw silk and dissolves the glue that would otherwise hold the silk together as a cocoon, Tu said, adding that it would harden if this step were skipped.
The raw silk is removed from the cloth and rinsed in clear water before it is put out to dry, and people are then hired to pull the material until it is the size of a quilt, Tu said.
The average strength of each hired hand is different, so during the tugging process, the workers need to constantly change positions to ensure the consistent thickness of the quilt, he said.
Tu has also opened his silk farm to children, to raise ecological awareness, which he said is why he has continued to prop up the business even after the government retreated.
“I wanted more people to know about silkworms,” Tu said.
His son is now learning the ropes of managing the farm and is soon to take over operations, Tu said.
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