Next door to the lunch restaurant was a silk factory shop.
They showed us the life-cycle of the little grubs that make all the magic.
Unlike most caterpillar/pupae/butterfly progressions, this one stops at the pupa, because the cacoon is the thing people want. It is made of a rediculously long, thin strand of silk, wrapped into a ball around the bug.
They explained to us the different uses for the silk, from both single cocoons and doubles.
For some reason, it is quite common for two bugs to cuddle up before they start spinning their cocoons, creating a double.
It seems that they soak the cocoons in some secret sauce, to loosen the strands.
With the single cocoons, they can unravel it into a continuous single strand of up to one km!! These are what you will find in woven silk fabric.
It appears that the 'twin' cocoons cannot be unravelled, so the twin silk has a different use. Imagine one of those fake spiderwebs you buy for halloween. They come in a small wad, and can be stretched wider and widerto make a bigger and bigger web.
These cocoons are just like that. They get stretched out wider and wider.
these make up the filling for a duvet. One 'web' gets stretched out to the required size, and then another one gets laid over it. Depending on the weight of the duvet to be made, the number of webs increase. So the difference between a double and a super-king is how far the webs have been stretched.
Sarah bought one. No surprises.
Then we went to the Temple of Heaven, where the Emperors would go to worship.
Like most temples or palaces, the grounds they sit on are simply huge. There is no shortage of land to create a tranquil environment, even in the middle of a busy city like Beijing.
They showed us the life-cycle of the little grubs that make all the magic.
Unlike most caterpillar/pupae/butterfly progressions, this one stops at the pupa, because the cacoon is the thing people want. It is made of a rediculously long, thin strand of silk, wrapped into a ball around the bug.
They explained to us the different uses for the silk, from both single cocoons and doubles.
For some reason, it is quite common for two bugs to cuddle up before they start spinning their cocoons, creating a double.
It seems that they soak the cocoons in some secret sauce, to loosen the strands.
With the single cocoons, they can unravel it into a continuous single strand of up to one km!! These are what you will find in woven silk fabric.
It appears that the 'twin' cocoons cannot be unravelled, so the twin silk has a different use. Imagine one of those fake spiderwebs you buy for halloween. They come in a small wad, and can be stretched wider and widerto make a bigger and bigger web.
These cocoons are just like that. They get stretched out wider and wider.
these make up the filling for a duvet. One 'web' gets stretched out to the required size, and then another one gets laid over it. Depending on the weight of the duvet to be made, the number of webs increase. So the difference between a double and a super-king is how far the webs have been stretched.
Sarah bought one. No surprises.
Then we went to the Temple of Heaven, where the Emperors would go to worship.
Like most temples or palaces, the grounds they sit on are simply huge. There is no shortage of land to create a tranquil environment, even in the middle of a busy city like Beijing.
We did notice some bazarro little cars around town. So many little vehicles to pop into and out of nooks and crannies with the busy traffic.
Last event for the day was a Tea ceremony. Ricky took us to a beautiful tea shop, where a lady walked us through the various teas, and how to make them.
Sarah wants to add to her teapot collection, so we had a look at those, and bought some tea.
They gacve us a halarious little gadget that tells you when the water is hot enough to make tea.
Its a little ceramic guy, and you pour the water over his head. If the water is not hot enough, nothing happens. If the water is hot, he pees in your eye. "No Pee No Tea"
Tea He....
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