Recently the China National Silk Museum has made two exhibitions, A World of Silks, an international exhibition of silk arts, and A World of Looms, weaving technology and textile art in China and beyond, followed with two international projects.
One is the Global History of Silk, including probably following sections:
1. Origin of sericulture and the classical silk manufacture, -3000 to -200
2. The Silk Road and silk transported to the west, -200 to +500
3. The transmission and exchange of silk technology on the Silk Road, +500 to +1000
4. Expanding of silk production along the maritime Silk Road, +1000 to +1500
5. Europe becoming a center of silk manufacture, 1500 to 1850
6. Globalization of silk, 1850 to 1950
7. Contribution of the Silk Road to the development of the world
And the other is the World Map of Silk, an interactive map, including information of archaeological silks, silks as museum and private collection, sericulture and silk craftsmanship as intangible cultural heritage, mulberry and sericulture sites, and looms and dyes. The world map of looms has been made already during the loom exhibition.
Right now, both projects need international collaborations from the silk research institutes and individual scholars. So I would like to launch these two projects during the IASSRT symposium and call for participants, especially those institutions in the association.