A visit to century-old mulberry tree  

探访中国百年蚕园：千年手工蚕丝技艺待传承

鲜绿的桑叶在微风中摆动，法国风格的洋楼伫立在桑园后，这是1922年由华洋丝业联合会在烟台创办的“蚕丝专科学校旧址”。中新社记者26日探访了这里拥有近百年历史的蚕园，“触摸”传承千年的中国手工蚕丝制作技艺。

Yantai (CNS) -- Bright green mulberry leaves dance in the breeze, and a French-style house stands behind a mulberry tree on the former site of a silk college in 1922. A reporter from CNS visited the century-old mulberry located in Yantai City of Shandong Province on July 26.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Yantai City was still the largest silk production center in the country, but also the birthplace of the country's tussah industry and for a long time the center of knowledge on silk production techniques.

Throughout its history the silk college trained a number of silk experts, in fact right up until it stopped operation in 1938, said Zou Jiwei, a senior agronomist who works at the former estate.

Sericulture is an exhausting job which requires you to treat the productive silkworms from the time of their babyhood with passion and patience, said Hao Huanhua, a female silkworm raiser. She said their team needs more young men to join and pass on time-honored sericulture skills.