The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
May 7 - Silk? You Want Silk?
Surprise! The largest silk wholesale and retail market in China is just a block from our hotel. Having discovered this serendipitous fact, what else was there to do but go shopping? The day began and ended walking the streets of what is now called China Silk Town. Needless to say, the selections are seriously oriented toward the female shopper! If it were up to me, I would open an air-conditioned pub in the middle of the place to give the guys someplace to hang out.
But with silk on the mind -- and seeking the aforementioned air conditioning -- we motored off to the China Silk Museum. I think the incentive was more that we had heard their shops had the best prices in town (not true) than because they gave you an incredible insight into the production, politics and weaving of silk (very true), but it was an interesting diversion nonetheless.
I now know more about the life cycle of the silk worm than I ever really wanted to know. I also found the historic garments interesting -- although the shoes for bound feet were rather scary. I was also fascinated by the complexity of the looms used to create the many different patterns of silk cloth. I still don't understand how they could even conceive of such devices (all made of wood) let along how they worked. Apparently they still use some of the looms for demonstrations, but they were busy making adjustments when we were there so we never saw this bad boy fired up.
© 2008 Restaurant Doctor
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