Harvesting Mulberry in Ice, Rearing Silkworms in Fire: An Environmental History of Sericultural Failure in China, 1949–66

I investigate the interconnectedness of the economic, ecological, and social transformations of sericulture in China’s Lower Yangzi Delta (Jiangnan) from 1949 to 1966. Since the 10th century, Jiangnan’s sericultural industry has steadily risen as China’s foremost silk production center, hinging on two foundations. First, a highly sophisticated regional market system efficiently converted household-based sericultural production into monetary value. Second, a balance was maintained among the growth cycles of mulberry trees and silkworms, supported by sufficient human labor investment. Silkworms feed on mulberry leaves to produce cocoons, which subsequently were spun into silk threads. The whole process including cultivating mulberry trees, harvesting leaves, rearing silkworms, and reeling threads demanded intensive labor input, predominantly from rural women and children.

However, I find that aggressive policies during the agricultural collectivization and the Great Leap Forward (GLF) campaigns broke both foundations, resulting in heavy environmental destruction and labor waste. On the one hand, agricultural collectivization demotivated Jiangnan’s peasants, by turning sericulture from a household sideline task into a collective undertaking. The once direct financial benefits that peasants derived from selling their finished products in the local market also vanished, as silk shifted to an export-oriented commodity. The government acquired silk from the countryside at a low rate, and then marketed them on the international market to maximize foreign exchange revenues.

On the other hand, reckless export quotas during the GLF pressured local cadres to increase sericultural production, disregarding natural norms. The rural populace, particularly women and children, were mobilized to densely plant mulberry trees and excessively harvest leaves to sustain year-round silkworm rearing. These endeavors culminated in the outbreak of mulberry failure and silkworm diseases. During the ensuing Famine, the disheartened and starving peasants extensively grew vegetables in mulberry groves, accelerating the death of mulberry trees due to poor fertilization and diseases.