Delicate, shining, and soft to the touch. The fabric called silk     1     (find) its way into the heart of Chinese people in the past thousands of years.     2     origin of it is not clear, but the ancient Chinese people     3     (credit) their own wisdom to Leizu, wife of the Yellow Emperor, as the inventor of sericulture (养蚕业).

The style and texture (质地) of silk are     4     (variety). Hangluo satin from Hangzhou,Zhejiang province, is famous for its airy and thin texture,     5     Yunjin brocade from Nanjing, Jiangsu province, a luxurious fabric often     6     (use) for royal clothes, represents China’s silk weaving (纺织) technique at its best time. Yunjin brocade is best made     7    hand, in a complex procedure that comprises more than a hundred steps. Even the most skilled artisans can only weave a few centimeters a day.

In the Western Han Dynasty (206 BC—AD 24), with Zhang Qian     8     (open) up the routes to the western regions, silk graced countries in Central Asia, and later other parts of Eurasia and beyond.     9     (appropriate), its name marked China’s major international trade     10     (route), the ancient Silk Road and Maritime Silk Road.

As one of the wonders of ancient China, silk is not merely a type of fabric but a cultural symbol and a representative of elegance.