Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v2.c13.s1.3

v2.c13.s1.3

**Rise and fall of the Silk Road:** Although the concept of the Silk Road was popularised very late, this trade channel had already existed for a long time. In the ancient world, China was the first country to produce silk based on planting mulberry trees and the rearing of silkworms. The Archaeological materials found in recent years have confirmed that silk production had developed to a very high level in China during the period of the Shang Dynasty in the second millennium BCE. At that time, a small amount of Chinese silks was being transported to Central Asia and India via peoples inhabiting the region of today’s Northwest China.