Silkworm songs are popular in the silkworm hometown. Like field songs, fishing songs and tea-picking songs, they are folk songs that people use to seek comfort and express their emotions in hard work. Tongxiang is a nationally renowned silkworm hometown. Almost every household in the rural areas here grows mulberry trees and raises silkworms. Silkworm songs express the life and thoughts and emotions of silkworm farmers in Tongxiang from generation to generation. There is no written record of when the Tongxiang silkworm songs began to spread. According to Chu Linfeng (born in 1929), the representative inheritor of the Tongxiang silkworm songs of the Zhejiang Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Project, the silkworm songs she sang were passed down by Zhuang Asan (1894-1988) of Heshan Huatai, who was born in the 20th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1894). In addition, local folk artists have collected a handwritten copy of the long silkworm song "Ma Ming Wang Canhua" (also known as "Ma Ming Wang Hualong Silkworm"). According to verification, the song was copied in the 29th year of the reign of Emperor Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1903). This shows that the Tongxiang silkworm songs have been passed down for more than 100 years. Tongxiang silkworm songs have accumulated the production and life wisdom of the vast number of silkworm farmers, and they express the folk customs of silkworm affairs, with high folk and aesthetic values. The objects of Tongxiang silkworm songs are closely related to the production and life of silkworm farmers. There are three types of songs: mulberry songs, silkworm songs, and silk songs. The content of silkworm songs is very rich, including production and life, customs and beliefs. Some silkworm songs introduce the process of silkworm rearing and some traditional methods of silkworm rearing in terms of expediting, feeding, and disease prevention; some silkworm songs express the daily life of silkworm farmers such as marriage, funerals, food, and living; some silkworm songs express local customs and traditional beliefs. The melody and singing form of Tongxiang silkworm songs are integrated with local art forms such as flower drum opera, shadow puppetry, and three jumps. They are lively and popular and are deeply loved by the masses. Xu Chunlei of Tongxiang Cultural Center has collected dozens of silkworm songs, five of which are included in the "Collection of Chinese Ballads". As a special folk song in the silkworm hometown, Tongxiang silkworm songs mainly rely on word of mouth and have no related utensils and products. Because its content is closely related to the life of local silkworm farmers, its inheritance is restricted by the region. During the first survey of folk literature in the 1980s, there were more than 20 singers who could sing silkworm songs in Tongxiang. Now, there are only three or five singers who can sing silkworm songs, and they are all in their 70s and 80s. Silkworm songs are facing an endangered situation, and measures are urgently needed to protect and pass them on. Tongxiang silkworm songs have been included in the third batch of Zhejiang Province's intangible cultural heritage list. Information source: text/Jiaxing City Library, photo/Zhang Jianqiu Information source: text/Jiaxing City Library, photo/Zhang Jianqiu