Linen history

The natural fiber that was first discovered and used by humans is based on the skin of plants. In the ancient apes, people covered them with bark. The first natural fiber used in textile technology was the skin of plants, flax, far from the Stone Age, Switzerland. In the lakes and tropical Egypt, people cultivated flax and woven their fabrics into fabrics. During the prosperous period of the Roman Empire, it was more common in Europe. In ancient Greece, Bulgaria, Russab, Georgia, etc., there were flax remains of centuries BC. . This is a symbol of the ancient use of Egypt, Greece, and Roman civilization. Therefore, it is well-deserved that linen is the oldest natural fiber. Flax is the forerunner of human fashion. Flax ignites the light of human costumes, and linen has been with human civilization.

As early as 10,000 years ago, the ancient Egyptians began to plant flax in the Nile Valley. In 1854, people discovered the flax fragments of 10,000 years ago at the bottom of the Swiss lake. This is the oldest linen fabric found in the world. Between 3000 and 332 BC, early farmers and grazing authors used the high yield of flax in the Nile Valley to produce high quality linen, which became the main clothing material of ancient Egyptians. The mummy wrapped in flax found in ancient Egyptian tombs. The cloth shows that the linen has excellent corrosion resistance. In the recent French and Egyptian archaeologists excavated more than 50 mummies in the 25-kilometer caves in the southern part of Cairo in the 10th century BC, they were all wrapped in linen, which showed excellent anti-corrosion properties. Although linen is difficult to dye, they are dyed red with a sedge and treated with antiseptic. On a square inch area, there are 160 warp yarns and 120 weft yarns, which shows the high level of textile technology at that time.

The Egyptian king, who has been circulated to the world, has embroidered the golden breasted linen breastplate to the Greek goddess of Athens. The weaving density has been composed of 360 rows of linen fibers per line. It can be inferred from the discovery of modern archaeology that linen weaving appeared at the latest 5,000 to 4,000 BC, and looms had appeared at that time. A study of the Egyptian pharaoh's tomb showed that the level of weaving of linen was already high, and the pharaohs had begun to use linen. The ancient Egyptian men, regardless of their status, are all chest-shouldered, and the wrapped apron is made of linen called "Roin. Cross", which is called "the linen". In the 1st and 5th centuries BC, the Romans used linen to make a women's light fabric. The high-waisted straight linen skirt was tied to the shoulders or belts. ". Because linen dyeing was difficult at the time, Egyptian clothing was more common in white. In order to weave white fluttering linen for girls to marry, the ancients used a white grass ash to dip in milk to dry. The price of linen in the mist is like gold. In the Neolithic Age, the Egyptians introduced linen to the countries along the Mediterranean Sea. Since the Middle Ages, linen has spread from Switzerland to France, Britain, Belgium and other countries. By the beginning of the 10th century, flax fibers began to be circulated as commodities on the market.

In 1760, the Russian inventor Rodriguez Glinkov invented the linen combing machine, which brought the linen textile industry into a new era. Later, in France, where linen was produced, Napoleon issued a reward of 1 million francs to solve the problem of clothing at the time. The invention of the spinning machine that can produce better linen textiles was invented. In 1810, the French Philippe Gérard invented the wet spinning frame, and the first flourishing period of the linen textile industry appeared in the history of human textile. Linen fabrics enter people's lives in a wider range of uses. In the development of linen spinning machines, the smashing machine was the product of the time, but it is still widely used in the production of linen textiles, and is known as the “hundred years machine”. In the next century or more, the development of textile raw materials and textile technology, cotton and wool fabrics developed faster, and later the rapid development of man-made fibers, although the total amount of other fiber textiles far exceeds the ancient silk and hemp, but Human society will not and cannot forget the traditional products that have affected people's lives for thousands of years.

In the 14th century, fine linen was hung on the bedroom wall of Pope John XII. Nowadays, linen is widely used in many international restaurants such as the first class of world-class airlines and the Savlin Hotel in London. With the widespread cultivation and spread of linen in Europe, the linen textile industry has emerged. At the beginning of the 16th century, linen textiles were popular and rapidly developed in the UK. Marx in the first chapter of Capital Theory, Chapter 24, Section 5, "The Counter-effect of the Agricultural Revolution on Industry. The Formation of the Domestic Market of Industrial Capital" takes the example of flax production, which was described in the era of Friedrich II. The Westphalian farmers, all spun linen, were violently deprived, showing the situation of flax production at the time.

In China, according to historical records: As early as 1906, the Qing government introduced four varieties of Russian-made fiber linen "Berno" from Hokkaido, and planted it in the three northeastern provinces. The early planting of flax was mainly used as an oil crop. For flax, the highest planting area before the founding of the Republic reached 1 million mu. After the flax crops were mainly changed from oil crops to fiber-based, 18 flax raw material processing plants were established in Heilongjiang Province, and there were a small number of backward linen textile production equipment. At that time, the Japanese guided the cultivation of flax and organized the acquisition, and most of the flax raw materials were also shipped to Japan.

In 1952, the Harbin linen textile factory, the first large and medium-sized enterprise aided by the former Soviet Union, was born in the northeast. This is the starting point and beginning of the modern Chinese linen textile industry. It marks the entry of China's linen textile industry into modern large-scale production. Since then, the progress of China's linen textile industry has attracted worldwide attention. The world has formed a new pattern of linen textile technology represented by Western Europe, China and Russia.