HUZHOU, CHINA - NOVEMBER 12: A worker reels off raw silk from cocoons on November 12, 2010 in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province, China. The last factory that produced the prestigious high-quality Jili raw silk shutdown in September, 2010 after 28 years in operation due to falling demands and rising costs. The firm was said to being undertaking restructuring but rumors circulated that its owner planned to sell the land for property projects. "We all feel ashamed for the closedown of Jili Silk Filature," said Zhu Beide, who retired in 1996 as head of the government of Nanxun, a township now governing villages of Jili and Xunnan, "no one can imagine a village of silk that lives with no silk factories. Maybe one or two generations later, our grandchildren can only have a glimpse at the splendid Jili raw silk at museums," he said. Nestling in the north of Zhejiang, Jili, a small village just a couple of hours' bus ride from Shanghai, made its name as the home of Chinese silk in Victorian times. The Jili silk, which was used to clothe the imperial court of the Qing Dynasty (A.D. 1644-1911), won the gold and silver prizes at the 1851 Great Exhibition in London and was presented as a birthday gift to Queen Victoria. But as China geared up to full industrialization and pushed forward the urbanization of its rural population since the late 1990s, Jili's silk-farming industry has gradually lost its market competitiveness. (Photo by Xinhua/Newsteam/Getty Images)
