China Puzzle #44

Another puzzle challenge:

Puzzle #44
The Forbidden City,
a bird's eye view.

198

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China Puzzle #43

Another puzzle challenge:

Puzzle #43
The Forbidden City
Beautifully decorated eaves.

195

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Granny's 95th Birthday

This blog has been focused on 

Granny's Great China Adventure.

If you would like to meet her...

The family of Granny, a.k.a. LaRee Jessop Elmer Shurtliff cordially invite all of her relatives, friends, neighbors, traveling companions, and coworkers to join us in celebrating her

95th Birthday

at an open house in her honor.

When: Saturday, April 9th 2011 from  4-6 pm

Where: 250 North 1500 West, Marriott-Slaterville, UT 84404

The Open House will be held at the Marriott-Slaterville LDS Church.

See you there.

China Part XXXII The Silk Factory

Our next stop was the Silk Factory.

This was a factory tour that I actually was anticipating. A silk comforter was one of the few shopping priorities that I had in China. I have travels quite a lot and I hate being burdened with purchases and souvenirs, however, I wanted a fine silk comforter. I failed to take many photos during this visit as I was preoccupied with the thoughts of making a purchase, so most of the photos here were taken by my traveling companions or from the internet.

Let's start with a little background on Silk.

Silk is a marvelous fabric and has a long and noble history. Chinese tradition says, the history of silk began in the 27th century BC. It was used exclusively in China until the Silk Road opened at some point during the latter half of the first millennium BC. China maintained its virtual monopoly over silk for another thousand years. Although primarily used for clothing, silk was also used for a number of other applications, including writing. The color of silk worn was an important indication of one's social class during the Tang Dynasty.

Silk cultivation spread to Japan in around 300 AD, and by 522 the Byzantines managed to obtain silkworm sericulture, Chinese silk exports became less important, although they still maintained dominance over the luxury silk market. The Crusades Changes in manufacturing techniques also began to take place during the Middle Ages, with devices such as the spinning wheel first appearing. During the 16th century France joined Italy in developing a successful silk trade, most other nations efforts to develop a silk industry were unsuccessful. eggs and were able to begin silkworm cultivation. The Arabs also began to manufacture silk during this same time. As a result of the spread of silk farming or brought silk production to Western Europe, in particular to many Italian states, which saw an economic boom exporting silk to the rest of Europe.

The Industrial Revolution seriously altered the European silk industry. Innovations in spinning cotton made it  much cheaper to manufacture undercutting expensive silk. Silk became less mainstream, however, new weaving technologies increased the efficiency of  its production. One of these advancements was the Jacquard loom, developed for silk embroidery. An epidemic of several silkworm diseases caused production to fall, especially in France, where the industry never recovered. In the 20th century Japan and China regained their earlier role in silk production, and China is now once again the world’s largest producer of silk. The rise of new fabrics such as nylon reduced the prevalence of silk throughout the world, and silk is now once again a somewhat rare luxury good, much less important than in its heyday.

Sericulture - The process of farming, harvesting and producing Silk.  

Silk moths lay eggs on specially prepared paper. The eggs hatch and the caterpillars (silkworms) are fed fresh mulberry leaves. After about 35 days and 4 moltings, the caterpillars are 10,000 times heavier than when hatched and are ready to begin spinning a cocoon. A straw frame is placed over the tray of caterpillars, and each caterpillar begins spinning a cocoon by moving its head in a "figure 8" pattern. Two glands produce liquid silk and force it through openings in the head called spinnerets. Liquid silk is coated in sericin, a water-soluble protective gum, and solidifies on contact with the air. Within 2–3 days, the caterpillar spins about 1 mile of filament and is completely encased in a cocoon. The silk farmers then kill most caterpillars by heat, leaving some to metamorphose into moths to breed the next generation of caterpillars.

Harvested cocoons are then soaked in boiling water to soften the sericin holding the silk fibers together in a cocoon shape. The fibers are then unwound to produce a continuous thread. Since a single thread is too fine and fragile for commercial use, anywhere from three to ten strands are spun together to form a single thread of silk.
Click here for a more detailed description of the silk process.  

Silk is the most beautiful of all textile fibers is acclaimed as the queen of textiles. It comes from the cocoon of the silk worm and requires a great deal of handling and processing, which makes it one of the most expensive fibers also. Today China is the leading silk producer of the world. Other major silk producing countries include Japan, India and Italy.

There are many weaving techniques this video is of a special Japanese style.

As an curious aside, spider silk can be used for making and incredible fabric and the process is even more amazing than that of the Silkworm. Take a look at this video clip.

Want event more bizarre? They now are making silk extracted from goat's milk derived by crossing goat and spider genes, and it makes a bullet proof vest even stronger than Kevlar! The fiber stronger than that from the silkworm and is 5 times stronger than steel Take a look at this:

Much more information about this can be found by clicking here.

There is also a new process that does not require the killing of the Silkworm to utilize its silk. I found this quite interesting and have included the article, with credits below.

New Silk Production Technique Does Not Require Killing Worms

by Justin Thomas, Virginia on 07. 8.06

Fashion & Beauty (textiles)

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Kusuma Rajaiah, an Indian man, has developed a new technique for producing silk that does not require killing silk worms in the process. [Note: We've been informed that a company in Oregon, Peace Silk, already uses this technique]. Right now, producing a silk saree involves killing of at least 50 thousand silkworms. Rajaiah has won the patent for producing the "Ahimsa" silk. Ahimsa is a religious concept which advocates non-violence and a respect for all life. However, the production of the silk is more expensive. For example, a saree which costs 2400 rupees to produce using regular silk, will cost 4000 rupees when made with Ahimsa silk.

Rajaiah says: "My inspiration is Mahatma. He gave a message to the Indian silk industry that if silk can be produced without killing silkworms, it would be better. He dreamt but that did not happen in his lifetime. I am the happiest person that at least I could do this little thing."

Rajaiah says he started giving a serious thought to "Ahimsa" silk when in the 1990s. Janaki Venkatraman, wife of the former President, asked if she could get a silk saree that is made without killing silk worms. Yarn for a silk saree is usually produced by throwing live cocoons of silkworm into boiling water. A single saree needs upto 50,000 cocoons. Rajaiah allows the moth to escape from the cocoon by waiting for 7-10 days and then uses the shells to produce yarn.

Via Ecofriend via NDTV

Meanwhile, back in China...

Unraveling the silk of a cocoon is a delicate process and not all cocoons can be unraveled. These are photos of one of the processes to utilize the silk from such cocoons. These were not usable for weaving since the single fiber could not be unraveled from the cocoon, either the fibers were broken up or tangled hopelessly because there were two worms spinning silk inside the same cocoon. Those cocoons are used for making comforters and pillows among other things.

Below are a few video clips from our Silk Factory visit.

Bob eats a silkworm.

The rest of us thought something different for lunch might be in order.

With our tummies refueled we were ready to invade The Forbidden City.

Up Next: The Forbidden City.

China Puzzle #42

Another puzzle challenge:

Puzzle #42
The Silk Factory.
Silkworm Cocoons.

195

To start puzzle click on picture.

Puzzle will open in new window.

To rotate pieces

select piece with mouse

and use the mouse roller

to rotate the piece.

China Part XXXI The Temple of Heaven

The Temple of Heaven

天壇

It was a beautiful morning. We left the warm confines of the hotel lobby and we set out on our way to the Temple of Heaven.

The flags were waving in the breeze the air was clean and clear after a nighttime rain. It was the first and only clear day we would experience in China. By early evening the smog would be retuning.

We were whisked cross town to the park grounds known as  the Temple of Heaven.  

The Temple of Heaven is an Imperial Sacrificial Altar in Beijing, it is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site

The temple complex was constructed from 1406 to 1420 during the reign of the Yongle Emperor, who was also responsible for the construction of the Forbidden City in Beijing. The complex was extended and renamed Temple of Heaven during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor in the 16th century. The Jiajing Emperor also built three other prominent temples in Beijing, the Temple of SunTemple of Earth (地壇)in the north , and the Temple of Moon (月壇)in the west . The Temple of Heaven was renovated in the 18th century under the Qianlong Emperor. Due to the deterioration of state budget, this became the last large-scale renovation of the temple complex in the imperial time. (日壇)in the east , the

The temple was occupied by the British-French Alliance during the Second Opium War. In 1900, during the Boxer Rebellion, the Eight Nation Alliance occupied the temple complex and turned it into the force's temporary command in Beijing, which lasted for one year. The occupation desecrated the temple and resulted in serious damage to the building complex and the garden. Robberies of temple artifacts by the Alliance were also reported. With the downfall of the Qing, the temple complex was left unmanaged. The neglect of the temple complex led to the collapse of several halls in the following years.

In 1914, Yuan Shikai, then President of the Republic of China, performed a Ming prayer ceremony at the temple, as part of an effort to have himself declared Emperor of China. In 1918 the temple was turned into a park and for the first time open to the public. Japaneses army occupied the park during the Second Sino-Japanese War and set up a site for bio-warfare development, which was destroyed by the Japanese before their retreat.

The Temple of Heaven was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1998 and was described as "a masterpiece of architecture and landscape design which simply and graphically illustrates a cosmogony of great importance for the evolution of one of the world’s great civilizations..." as the "symbolic layout and design of the Temple of Heaven had a profound influence on architecture and planning in the Far East over many centuries."

The surroundings of the Temple of Heaven is now a very popular park for exercising.

The Temple grounds cover 2.73 km² of parkland and comprises three main groups of constructions, all built according to strict philosophical requirements:

• The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests (祈年殿) is a magnificent triple-gabled circular building, 36 metres in diameter and 38 metres tall, built on three levels of marble stone base, where the Emperor prayed for good harvests. The building is completely wooden, with no nails. The original building was burned down by a fire caused by lightening in 1889. The current building was re-built several years after the incident.
  
  Panorama with the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests in the center, viewed from the South
  
  Panorama of the three main halls

• The Imperial Vault of Heaven (皇穹宇) is a single-gabled circular building, built on a single level of marble stone base.  It is located south of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and resembles it, but is smaller. It is surrounded by a smooth circular wall, the Echo Wall, that can transmit sounds over large distances. The Imperial Vault is connected to the Hall of Prayer by the Vermilion Steps Bridge, a 360 meter long raised walkway that slowly ascends from the Vault to the Hall of Prayer.

• The Circular Mound Altar (圜丘坛) is the altar proper, located south of the Imperial Vault of Heaven. It is an empty circular platform on three levels of marble stones, each decorated by lavishly carved dragons. The numbers of various elements of the Altar, including its balusters and steps, are either the sacred number nine or its nonuples. The center of the altar is a round slate called the Heart of Heaven (天心石) or the Supreme Yang (太阳石), where the Emperor prayed for favorable weather. Thanks to the design of the altar, the sound of the prayer will be reflected by the guardrail, creating significant resonance, which supposed to help the prayer communicate with the Heaven. The Altar was built in 1530 by the Jiajing Emperor and rebuilt in 1740.

In ancient China, the Emperor of China was regarded as the Son of Heaven, who administered earthly matters on behalf of, and representing, heavenly authority. To be seen to be showing respect to the source of his authority, in the form of sacrifices to heaven, was extremely important. The temple was built for these ceremonies, mostly comprising prayers for good harvests.

Twice a year the Emperor and all his retinue would move from the Forbidden city through Beijing to encamp within the complex, wearing special robes and abstaining from eating meat. No ordinary Chinese was allowed to view this procession or the following ceremony. In the temple complex the Emperor would personally pray to Heaven for good harvests. The highpoint of the ceremony at the winter solstice was performed by the Emperor on the Earthly Mount. The ceremony had to be perfectly completed; it was widely held that the smallest of mistakes would constitute a bad omen for the whole nation in the coming year.

One of the regrettable elements of traveling with a tour group is that there is often too much emphasis on factory tours and shopping, consequentially your time at each of the cultural or historical venues visited is truncated, as was the case, as earlier mentioned, with our tour group at the Great Wall and other stops and again here at the Temple of Heaven. Of the three areas of the Temple of Heaven complex noted above we would visit only one. The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and the open areas we passed while getting in and getting out.

When we arrived there were people all over the place exercising, dancing, telling stories, playing games etc. and of course the ubiquitous vendors hawking souvenirs to the tourists.

The Panda hats were a popular choice.

I looked oh so charming in mine...but I actually bought it for Mom/Granny. It was quite breezy and a little chilly, so we wanted to keep her warm.

The decorated lintels of the covered walk way were fascinating and beautiful.

We soon arrived at

 祈年殿 

The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

There on the plaza of the The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests were huge crowds of visitors and numerous other tour groups from various countries as indicated by the flags carried by their tour guides.

This guy came up to us and gave a thumbs up and said, 'Go USA! Thank you Mr. Bush. We love America!' He said he and his friend were from Iraq. We talked to him for a little while. He seemed a very nice person. I don't recall if he had fled the country or still lived there. (I hope showing his photo here doesn't get him in trouble back home.)

The obligatory photos of our mugs in front of the pagoda.

We met a woman and her 101 year old mother. The people we met in China were generally very friendly and open people who were interested in talking to us, taking pictures of us and/or with us. They wanted to know how we live, what our lives are like and wanted us to enjoy our time in China.

Everyone snapped photos of the two sweet old ladies together, East and West united, even strangers and passersby that were not in our group.

Finally we climbed the stairs to the round plaza and entered the elaborately decorated pagoda, The Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests.

Did I mention there were a lot of people there?

Once we had taken in the views of the surrounding areas from the upper plaza we entered the Temple.

It was immaculately detailed inside and out.

Inside one could see the incredibly detailed ceiling. For more photos of the Temple of Heaven park click here and here.

 On the way out and back to the bus there were more people playing games. We stopped breifly and joined in.

Here, below, Dian Thomas (authoress and former regular on the Today Show out of NYC) plays ring toss with an elderly gentleman.

I gave it a try myself, but wasn't terribly accurate on my tosses, the guy had a pretty accurate throw.

 

 

There were several men that we saw painting, with water, Chinese calligraphy on the sidewalks and plaza tiles. As the sun warmed the tiles the writing of course would evaporate and disappear. 

Just before leaving the park we came across this group of seniors chatting and visiting in the sun. They were amazed at granny's age. As I recall retirement age in China is 50 or 55.

Soon back on the bus we on our way to a restaurant.

Note the guy crossing the street  in the middle of all the traffic. This was the norm, remember to look both ways before crossing.

Up Next: The Silk Factory