Song Dynasty Water-Powered Textile Mills Proliferate

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Water-powered spinning wheels and silk-reeling machines spread through the Yangtze Delta, transforming textile production from cottage craft into something approaching mechanized industry. The technology used water wheels to drive multiple spindles simultaneously, multiplying output by factors that astonished visiting merchants. Song China's textile exports - silk, cotton, hemp - flowed outward through Guangzhou and Quanzhou to markets stretching from Japan to the Persian Gulf.