We went on a day trip to Suzhou, the birthplace of silk, and toured a silk factory. It was utterly fascinating to watch the process, from silkworm to cocoon to sorting machine to skeins of raw silk, through dyeing and weaving to the beautiful new silk duvet cover we will proudly be displaying on our bed when we return home.
Suzhou also boasts many beautiful gardens and the Grand Canal, which was started in the fifth century BCE and took a thousand years to build. It is the largest man-made waterway in the world, stretching over a thousand miles from Beijing to Shanghai and beyond. It is about 50 meters wide and 15 meters deep. All rivers in China flow east--west, and the Emperor decided he needed a waterway to go north--south, so he conscripted 5 million men to build the canal, which is still in use today.
No comments:
Post a Comment