China’s long love affair with beautiful fabrics caused the culture to develop from its earliest times a high level of technical skills in the crafting of textiles. Techniques for silk production, weaving, and dyeing, as well as embroidery, all emerged in China thousands of years ago. The production of silk fabrics was among the first of China’s contributions to the evolution of fine textile arts.

According to the legend described in Confucius’s Book of Odes, silk was discovered around 2700 bc by the Princess Leizu of the Xiling clan, wife of Emperor Huangdi. While drinking tea under a mulberry tree, a cocoon fell into her cup. “She started to play with the tiny gray ball, and was amazed to find it contained a delicate thread of extraordinary texture.” 

Romantic as this tale may sound, sericulture seems actually to have been widely developed prior to that date. An ivory cup, dating from at least 4000 bc, has a silkworm design carved on it, and a woven silk textile fragment has been dated around 3500 bc. The discovery that later made Chinese silk superior to that from other locations was the realization that if the worm was bred in captivity and the chrysalis killed before it pierced the thread of the cocoon, the prized long filament would remain unbroken, creating a sleeker, more lustrous fabric.

Throughout imperial China, silk, hemp, and cotton were the three main fibers used to produce clothing, with silk being used predominantly for the upper classes.36 During the Ming dynasty, the cities known for producing silks were Nanjing, Suzhou, and Hangzhou.

With a surface that will be modified by extensive embroidery, the selection of fabrics employed in traditional Jingju costumes is fairly limited. Silk fabrics in solid colors with a lustrous satin or matte crepe finish are used for the garments of all the higher-status characters. In one example studied at the University of Hawai‘i, the lining had separated from the face fabric, revealing that the fabric was a charmeuse, a silk fabric with satin sheen on one side and matte on the reverse, which indicated the possibility that many of the silk garments could be constructed from this one fabric by using both surfaces.

In a few cases, for soft garments, a monochromatic jacquard silk is used. The woven design is small scale, usually an overall geometric pattern, and it would not read significantly to the audience. For some of the military costumes, a heavier weight of silk satin may be used. The water sleeves are silk broadcloth to give them the body needed for manipulation by the performer. Cotton is used for some of the garments of lower-status characters and for the waistbands of the skirts and trousers.