They developed papermaking, printing, gunpowder, the compass AND silk.
Google: Silk fabric was invented in Ancient China and played an important role in their culture and economy for thousands of years. Legend has it that the process for making silk cloth was first invented by the wife of the Yellow Emperor, Leizu, around the year 2696 B.C.
We visited China in 1981 and I bought TONS of silk. It was gorgeous and cheap. Ain't that way any more.
That's because the spiders unionized.