Chinese empress, consort of the Yellow Emperor and patron of silk

Leizu

Leizu is a legendary Chinese empress, wife of the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi), to whom tradition credits the discovery of sericulture and the invention of the silk loom. She matters because her story explains the origin of one of China's most prized crafts.

The myth

According to legend, Leizu discovered silkworms while taking an afternoon tea. A cocoon fell into her cup, the heat unwound the silk, and the thread stretched across her garden. Following it back to the cocoon, she realised it was the source of silk.

Another version says she found silkworms eating mulberry leaves and spinning their cocoons. She gathered some, sat down for tea, and dropped one into the boiling water; a fine fibre caught around her finger. She then persuaded her husband to give her mulberry trees, where she tamed the worms. She is also credited with the silk reel, which joins filaments into a strong thread, and with the first loom. She shared the art across China. With the Yellow Emperor she had sons Shaohao and Changyi, the latter father of Emperor Zhuanxu, who was chosen as heir over his own father and uncles.

Worship and religion

In modern China she is a popular object of worship under the title Silkworm Mother (Lata Nainai), invoked by those who work with silk.