Day 5 - Lingering Gardens
Trip Start
Nov 09, 2009
1
6
8
Trip End
Nov 19, 2009
Hangzhou,
Zhejiang,
China
Sunday, November 15, 2009
The first stop of the day was at the silk factory to see how silk products and silk comforters are made. When the silk caterpillar spins its cocoon, it does so in one solid strand of silk which can be over one kilometer in length. We were able to see how the thread for the cocoon is harvested. It was an informative morning. We were then ushered into the store to purchase silk comforters, bed spreads and silk clothing.
After escaping the store, we lingered at the Lingering Gardens
Wow!!!
. It is considered one of the top four gardens in China and is a World Heritage site. The gardens were built over four hundred years ago by a transportation official for his own private use. It took more than ten years to construct. After the official died, his son lost the gardens in a night of gambling. The garden was beautiful and worthy of lingering. A young Japanese couple joined our tour group and listened in and took pictures with us. It was interesting to compare the intimate setting of this garden with the sprawling complex of the Summer Palace. Denise had a great time taking pictures in the garden, as I’m sure you’ll be able to see in the gallery with this blog.
After a sub-standard buffet lunch, we headed to the Embroidery Institute to see Chinese Embroidery. I didn’t think there would be much to see here, but my first inkling that it would be more than a trout sewn onto a fishing shirt was when Joe told us that no photography was allowed because they were concerned with the Japanese stealing the secrets of their craft. The unfortunate part is that we don’t have anything to show you how amazing it was.
The art is all done with silk thread
Silk Worm education
. A single silk thread can be further divided into 48 smaller threads. The most intricate works of art use only a single thread. A single piece can take 6 months to a year to create. It explained the 35,000+ price tag on some of the top pieces.It was like walking through a museum. The embroideries were rich in color and texture and could as easily imitate a photograph as a painting or calligraphy. Had we the money, there would be a lot of great pieces of art coming home with us.
That pretty much ended the day. I’m writing this on a 3 hour bus ride to Hongzhou. It’s raining outside, the windows are fogged up, and there isn’t much we can see. It’s actually a nice break. I think I’ll hit the health facility tonight after dinner instead of spending a couple of hours working on the blog!
PS – Dave, did you know that I.M. Pei is from Suzhou?
Comments
You can keep the jade jewelry and silk clothing, just bring me back a Chinese sign! They are fantastic!!