Sydney's Day Off

October 13, 2011

Since my parents' departure was quickly nearing, I squeezed in one last touristy excursion. I'd been told by fellow expats, the tour at the Number 1 Silk Factory was a must-see. I figured it would be a tough sell to Sydney since it was now her day with Mimi and Papa. She happily obliged with conditions. We could go to the silk factory if we could go to her favorite restaurant, The Bookworm, first.
We headed out shortly after Sarah and Katie left for school. Unfortunately, when we arrived at the Bookworm, the staff was also just arriving. She said she could wait until after the factory tour for lunch, but we'd have to come back. We also had to pick up a little snack at the Family Mart to hold her over until then.
Thinking a late Thursday morning would be a great time to go and there'd be no crowds, we were stunned to see dozens of tour buses as we pulled into the factory's parking lot. Mr. Liu helped us negogiate our way in, but told us all the tour guides were booked. Luckily, I spotted one of my EAS (Expat Assoc. of Suzhou) buddies with some guests of her own. She said she'd been to the factory a couple of times and would be happy to share what she knew, so we tagged along.
The Number 1 Silk Factory, built in 1926, doesn’t get its name because it's the best in China, rather because it’s the oldest. Of course, now adays everything is processed through machines, but this factory is one of the few remaining where employees still do some of the work by hand. It makes for an enlightening tour. Who would have thought a single necktie requires 300 cocoons?
The machinery was quite incredible and the whole process fascinating. The silk wheels at the top of the machine were spinning so fast while the used cocoons would bob in the water trough. After the spinning machines came the ones that make the print on the fabric. The cards on the machines had some sort of braille-like code that told the machine what to do and stamps of various Chinese depictions on a yellow silk background magically pumped out the other end.
The tour ends in a showroom. We are in China after all. Right before we headed into the showroom we watched the women making the duvets by stretching the silk across the mattress to layer a duvet. Sydney smiled her smile and asked if she could help. She said it felt like a strong, but soft spiderweb. The only things in the showroom that caught my attention were the worm-droppings pillows. Yes, all those little black dots you see in the picture of the worms eating the mulberry leaves are worm poop. Supposedly, these poop pillows promote a healthy sleep. Needless to say, we left without anything including worm poo.
The Bookworm was ready for us when we returned and we had a nice, quiet lunch. Syd picked out a book from their 'library'. The shop upstairs was getting ready for some bookswap event, but Syd finagled her way up there anyway.

Back home, she wrote about her day's events and thoughts in her diary. She's been deligently recording precious moments. I'm just waiting for the day when she asks if she can start a blog.