Fire-Washed Cloth

Asbestos Silk

Tribute cloth cleansed by fire without burning, one of the wonders brought from the western tribes.

Fire-washed cloth, woven from asbestos or the hair of the fabled fire mouse, was washed not in water but in flame: cast into fire, its stains burned away while the cloth itself remained whole. Brought to China as tribute from the western regions, it became the standard wonder proving that distant lands held things beyond the empire’s books.