Ningbo, one of the three big trading ports in ancient China and one of the five treaty ports after the Opium War (1840-1842), was famous for its silk weaving.

Ningbo is a place suitable for growing mulberries as it is seated on an alluvial plain with mountains as the backdrop, sandy soil and humid climate.

China has a long history of raising silkworms. According to the Notes on Search for Mythic Gods by GOU Dao-xing, a myth associated silkworms with a girl. It was fabled that the girl turned into a silkworm after refusing to keep the promise of marrying her father's horse. So tradition has it that Chinese people call silkworms daughters.

The silkworm breeding in Ningbo dates back to 7000 years ago, as is shown by an ivory carved with cocoons was unearthed in the Hemudu Culture Site. Turning silk into silk fabrics has been evidenced in many historical records of China. The Hou Han Shu, or History of the Eastern Han Dynasty, recorded a story about a wife weaving silk on a loom, which was more than 2000 years ago.

The tribute silk produced in Mingzhou is most suitable for making summer dresses. It is light, bright and felt cool. By the end of the Qianlong Period of the Qing Dynasty, Ningbo had got 850 silk looms, producing silk, damask silk, silk fabric, satin, and tough silk. At that time, silk weaving became such a trade that nine out of ten households engaged themselves in silkworm raising and mother-of-pearl breeding, especially in the villages of Zhangcui and Miyan. Later on, with advancement of technology, the production of silk was gradually shifted to mechanization from manual labor.

The silk products of Ningbo have been important out-bound products. Back in the Tang Dynasty, they were exported to Japan, known as Silk from the Tang Dynasty. "People all like to wear the Tang Silk", as stated in the Record of the Clear Moon by a famous writer Fujiwara Sadaie. The technology of silk weaving was soon introduced to Hakata of Japan, the port that maintained transportation links with Ningbo. Hakata then became the center of silk trade in Japan and the weaving technique got the name of Hakata weaving.