Silk Museum in Suzhou or hangzhou?

Hi

Has anyone been to either of the museums in Suzhou or Hangzhou? I%26#39;m interested to learn more on how silk is made (from the silk worms to weaving)

Out of the 2 which is more interesting or comprehensive?

Thanks

Silk Museum in Suzhou or hangzhou?

I%26#39;m not 100% sure which ';silk museum'; in Suzhou you are talking about. I%26#39;ve been to a silk factory which has an very interesting display of how silk is produced, with old farm artifacts etc, ending in a showroom where silk bedding is produced and a large shop. There is no hard sell, but apart from the bedding I find the clothing to be old-fashioned in style. I%26#39;m not sure if this is the place you mean?

The Museum in Hangzhou is wonderful - contains many examples of historical silk costumes. I don%26#39;t remember much about how silk in made. I last went there a little over 2 years ago however.

Silk Museum in Suzhou or hangzhou?

Thanks Zhuhai2007. The suzhou Silk museum I refer to is at No 2001 Renmin Lu. I saw it in one of those travel guide I read. Wonder whether it is shop or real museum now :)

I%26#39;ve marked the Silk factory on the map in my LP but there is no street name given. It is a major road at right angles to Renmin Lu, just south of the river.

I went to the Silk Museum in Suzhou way back in late 2003 or early 2004. After all the rave reviews about it in the English-language guidebooks and on the Lonely Planet ThornTree travel forum, I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed. True, it%26#39;s somewhat interesting if you originally had no idea about how silk is made, but I already did. Plus, the displays were somewhat dusty and worn around the edges for lack of maintenance.

I went to the Suzhou Silk Museum recently (Nov, 2008). It%26#39;s the one just around the corner and up the street from the Bei Si Ta. (North Temple Pagoda) The displays were as described above but I found out after buying in the museum shop that their silk bedding is a complete gyp. Please don%26#39;t make my mistake! I paid 700 rmb (fixed price; no haggling allowed--over twice what you pay elsewhere) for what was purported to be a good quality, winter weight, king sized quilt. This was my first shopping experience for silk quilts so I didn%26#39;t know the difference, but back in Shanghai, on a tip, I went to the Qingfang textile market and soon realized that the Suzhou Museum shop 1) used flimsy cheap cheesecloth for the shell, 2) shorted me on the weight by 2 lbs and the size by over 20cm length and width (the package was marked 220x250) 3) did not attach the floss to the shell in any way 4) and worst of all, stuffed the quilt with poor quality silk floss (with debris and dried cocoons left in!) and then added a piece of higher quality white floss at the quilt opening to disguise the fact. I discovered all this when I took it apart to remake it in a good quality cotton shell that I bought at the Qingfang market (q.v.). GRRRR I wish I could give those saleswomen at the Suzhou Museum a piece of my mind!

I previously got a fake 50 RMB note as change. Dastardly of them!

Hi,

Planning to go to shanghai, suzhou, hnagzhou,nanjing, shanghai in Sept. Do the museums there have exhibits in English, or book guide in english?

Might join the local which understand is only in Mandarin, so don%26#39;t understand.

Thanks,