The Shengze Silk Market: 500 Years of Legacy
Shengze is a world-renowned “Silk Capital of China,” with a long and rich history of silk production and trade. As early as the mid-Ming Dynasty, numerous workshops specializing in silk weaving emerged in the Shengze area. These developed into a professional silk market known as Zhuangmian, where many silk firms gathered. Because of this, historians recognize Shengze as an important example of the early emergence of capitalist elements in China.
The Ming-dynasty writer Feng Menglong, a native of Suzhou who lived in the economically prosperous Jiangnan region, vividly depicted local social and economic life in his works, providing an objective reflection of the early stages of capitalist development. His famous trilogy — Stories to Enlighten the World (Yushi Mingyan), Stories to Caution the World (Jingshi Tongyan), and Stories to Awaken the World (Xingshi Hengyan) — are regarded as masterpieces of classical Chinese short stories in vernacular language.
In Stories to Awaken the World, Volume 18, titled “Shi Runze Meets a Friend by Chance at the Tanque Ferry,” Feng tells the story of a silk weaver from Shengze who rose to prosperity through weaving and selling silk.
A Flourishing Silk Market in Ming Shengze
Feng’s narrative gives a detailed portrayal of Shengze’s thriving silk trade:
“Seventy li from the city of Wujiang in Suzhou Prefecture lies a town named Shengze. Its population is dense and industrious, and the local custom is simple and honest. Everyone lives by sericulture. Day and night, the sounds of weaving never cease. Along both banks of the market street, there are over a thousand silk firms. Silks woven in nearby villages are all brought here for sale. Merchants from all directions crowd the streets, shoulder to shoulder, leaving no room to stand. It is indeed a land of brocade and satin, a place where wealth accumulates and silk prospers. Though there are many sericulture areas in Jiangnan, none can compare to this town.”
Silk weaving households were scattered throughout Shengze. The fabrics they produced were all brought to the silk market for sale. Feng wrote:
“During the Jiajing reign, there lived in Shengze a man named Shi Fu, who, together with his wife Yu, made a living by weaving silk. Each year they raised a few trays of silkworms — the wife reeling silk, the husband weaving — and lived a decent life. Most households in town were well-off. Typically, they would weave ten bolts of silk before going to market. Wealthier families didn’t even need to go; silk brokers would bring buyers to their homes. Shi Fu, being of modest means, went to market whenever he had three or four bolts ready to sell…”
One day, while carrying silk to market, Shi Fu found a small blue cloth bundle containing two silver ingots. He waited for the owner to return and gave the bundle back — an act of honesty that brought him good fortune. From that time on, his silkworms flourished, and his silk, fine and lustrous, fetched higher prices. Within a few years, he accumulated capital and expanded his workshop to several looms, eventually running dozens within a decade. His business prospered, and neighbors called him Shi Runze (“Shi the Lustrous”).
Though Feng’s tale centers on moral virtue and retribution, it reflects the historical reality of early capitalist production relationships emerging in Ming China. Shi Fu’s rise from a small artisan to a prosperous workshop owner illustrates the transformation of production relations. Historians later cited this story in works such as Outline of Ancient Chinese History as evidence of early capitalist development in China.
Historical Records of Shengze’s Rise
The emergence of this new production model spurred the growth of Shengze’s silk production and trade. As a rising township in Wujiang County, Shengze quickly became its most economically vibrant center. Feng’s story aligns with official historical records.
The Ming Jiajing Gazetteer of Wujiang County states:
“Shengze… is a marketplace for brocade and silk.”
The Qing Qianlong Gazetteer records:
“The town of Shengze, located sixty li southeast of the county seat, was a small village at the beginning of the Ming with only fifty or sixty households. During the Jiajing reign, it doubled in size and became a silk-weaving market. Today, its population has increased a hundredfold, and its silk trade tenfold. Merchants from all directions bring money here daily. Boats fill the canals, and streets are crowded shoulder to shoulder. Truly, it is the foremost of all towns in the county.”
According to Qianlong and Tongzhi editions of the Shenghu Gazetteer, the famous Yuan-dynasty merchant Shen Wansan, who gained wealth through overseas trade, established Nan Sheng Fang (South Prosperity Ward) and Bei Sheng Fang (North Prosperity Ward) in Shengze to buy silk — an early prototype of the Shengze Silk Market.
The Evolution of the Silk Market
From these records, it is clear that by the Jiajing era (1522–1566), Shengze already had a well-formed silk market. The early market was located along both banks of the town river — the north and south main streets (today’s Shunhu Middle Road) — particularly concentrated around the Shanjia Bridge area (today’s Dongfang Plaza), known as Zhuangmian. The term Zhuangmian literally means “the street lined with silk firms,” referring to the core of the silk market.
In 1752 (the 17th year of Emperor Qianlong’s reign), a fire broke out at Xinjiekou on the south side of Shanjia Bridge, spreading across the bridge and destroying over 500 shops, reducing the bustling silk market to ashes. Afterward, silk merchants pooled funds to rebuild the market at Xichangwei (present-day Huayuan Street), constructing over a hundred new shops known as the New Zhuang, which has been designated a Cultural Heritage Site of Suzhou.
By the Qing Dynasty, silk trade thrived to such an extent that existing shops could no longer meet demand. New trading areas — Nanzhuang, Huizhou Zhuang, and others — were built, forming narrow streets like Zhuangmian Alley 1, Zhuangmian Alley 2, and Zhuang Cross Street, along with Shazhu Alley and Xiaoxiang Alley. Together, these made up the heart of the Shengze Silk Market.
Here gathered silk firms, silk brokers, warp and reed makers, shuttle and loom suppliers, and pattern workshops — all of which together determined the prosperity of Shengze’s silk industry and even influenced silk production across the Jiangsu and Zhejiang regions.
From the Ming Dynasty to Modern Prosperity
The Shengze Silk Market continued unbroken from the Ming Jiajing period until 1955. In 1986, the establishment of the China Eastern Silk Market brought the Shengze Silk Market to new heights, making it the largest professional silk textile market in China.
From 1522 to 2022, Shengze’s silk market has flourished for 500 years. Such longevity and prosperity are exceedingly rare worldwide — a true source of pride for Shengze and a testament to the enduring brilliance of China’s silk industry.