a shopping trip to the ’embroidery town’ June 29, 2010
Posted by freda in China.trackback
On Thursday, June 10th, Janine organized a trip to the ’embroidery town’ on the outskirts of Suzhou. Janine and Robin (with whom I went to Jingdezhen), Rosemary (another GM wife who lives in our building) and I left home at 9 a.m. for the almost two-hour drive. I would have liked to have seen some of Suzhou, a city of canals and bridges and a lot of tourist sights, but this was a shopping trip! (Maybe Don and I will go later in August, when we’re back in China for our packing up.) The embroidery street is in the outskirts of Suzhou (so I didn’t get a glimpse of the city at all), and in a manner I have learned is typical in China, shop after shop line the street, all selling the same things. One side of the street was going through reconstruction, and was a mess. Luckily it wasn’t raining.
the street and broken sidewalk
at least the other side of the street was okay
beautiful lamp posts
We spent about three hours going in and out of all the shops, assessing the work, deciding what we liked. There was everything from tacky tourist souvenirs, to the most exquisitely-detailed pictures that looked like paintings, the embroidery work was so fine. Original pictures, and copies of Van Gogh’s and Monet’s. And everything (or almost everything)done by hand….
work shop and gallery all in one
at least these women can chat while they work
fine detail
it really is an art form
aren't these kids cute?! They were doing desk work while their mother worked in the shop
So, after much deliberation and hard bargaining, we came away with a few lovely pieces. I love both of mine. This first one is a fan, in a stand, and the kind of embroidery where you don’t see any of the work – it looks the same from both sides.
fan, in the stand
a closer look at the detail
And the picture is of a water village, which you’ll have to see in person, because the photos don’t do it justice….
full picture (with my shadow)
detail
detail
We were hot, tired and very hungry after our afternoon of shopping, and stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at a Sofitel hotel restaurant on the way home, which was lovely. All in all, a very good day!
freda's world adventures 
good choises of pictures
I can hardly waait to get there and see everything
Mom