CHINA - HONG KONG EMBROIDERY AND TEXTILES TOUR
LOCATION PICTURES AND OVERVIEWS
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For day-by-day itineraries of scheduled tours, click below:
Oct-Nov 2004 |
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Helen
and Jim Zimmerman in front of Empress Cixi's marble boat at the Summer
Palace
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Beijing: The Capital City
Here we visit Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City. Highlights include
seeing the Imperial Robe Collection, as well as jewelry and large screens made
with feathers from Kingfisher birds, and the private living quarters. The
Forbidden City is a palace of over 9000 rooms and was residence of emperors for
over 500 years and houses many precious art objects.
We visit the Temple of Heaven where the emperors prayed for good harvests and
the Summer Palace that was used as a summer retreat to escape the heat of the
city. The Empress Dowager Cixi used it as her residence and built a marble boat
with money intended to modernize the Chinese Navy.
One of the world's great tourist attractions is the Great Wall. It is
the only man made structure visible from space. The Great Wall was built
nearly 2600 years ago and extends almost 4000 miles.
We will walk the Sacred Way leading to the Ming Tombs. On display in a
museum at the tombs are jewelry, gold coins, jade belts, porcelain, embroidered
garments, woven silks, and other objects buried with the emperor's corpse.
We will ride pedicabs to the Hutong area. Hutongs are courtyard homes in
little alleys and lanes which are being demolished to make way for high-rise
apartment buildings. Our visit to the capital city is complete with a
Beijing duck dinner on arrival and a special Imperial Dinner, our last evening
in Beijing.
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Participants
with the national guide on the 1999 tour at the Great Wall near Beijing.
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Tour participants approach to the Forbidden City |
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Children at a kindergarten during the Hutong Tour in Beijing
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Tour organizer Pat Dalton (left) and tour participant Karen
Ciemer prepare for a pedicab ride during the Hutong Tour in Beijing. |
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Tour participants walk and view beautiful stretches
of the historical Wall of China. (Mitianyu section pictured here) |
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Xian:
The ancient capital
The starting point of the Silk Road, Xian was the ancient capital of eleven
dynasties for over a thousand years. Xian is known as the birthplace for a
united China.
Here we will visit the vast army of Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses
discovered in 1974. Thousands of warriors were buried 22 centuries ago to
protect the tomb of the Qin Emperor, China's first emperor. We see the
magnificent city wall and gate. We enjoy a delicious buffet dinner at our hotel.
Rows
of Terra Cotta Warriors and Horses buried centuries ago to protect China's
first emperor.
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We will visit a jade carving factory and have arranged a special dumpling
dinner preceding the evening performance of the Tang Dynasty Show.
We have arranged a visit to a countryside workshop producing "farmer
paintings". Highly collectable although inexpensive, expatriates fly in
from Beijing and other locations in China to purchase them. We visit Mr. Fan who
has traveled to the US twice for gallery exhibits of his paintings.
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After
shopping for artwork at the farmers painting workshop, tour
participants ran into a group of curious girls that were open to be
photographed. |
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During
the trip to Xian, tour participants attend the farmer painting market.
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On a recent tour, participants met Mr. Fan. Mr. Fan
has traveled to
the US twice to exhibit his farmer paintings in galleries. |
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A group of curious children checked out the tourists
during a recent trip to the painting market.
Below right: One
tour participant shares some trail mix.
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We board the President I in Wuhan. Our first stop is Jing-Sha City and its
city wall with a moat and also a city museum. This Museum is an important
research site and includes 2000 year-old silk garments and fabrics. It contains
a mummy, Mr. Sui, who died 167 BC.
We pass through the ship lock at Gezhouba Dam. It is China's largest dam to
date, completed in 1986.
We visit the Three Gorges Dam construction site for a close look at the
world's largest hydro project. In spring of 2003, the Yangtze River will be
closed to all river traffic as they begin to fill the reservoir to the 135 meter
level.
Our ship sails through Xiling Gorge, the first and longest of the three
gorges featuring dramatic shoals, verdant cliffs, temples, and landmark rocks.
The mountains form massive walls on both sides that were created 70 million
years ago.
We disembark for a shore excursion in small boats exploring the Danning
River. Here we view the ancient plank road remains along the river and the
coffins of the mysterious ancient Ba people.
We continue sailing through Wu Gorge with its weathered "twelve
peaks" lining the banks, shaped in a deep zigzagging valley of quiet
beauty.
The last of the three gorges is Qutang Gorge with its 3,700 foot high and 300
feet wide passage; it is breath-taking all the way. It is the shortest, but the
grandest and wildest. Here the river is so narrow that only one ship is allowed
to pass at a time.
Our last shore excursion is at Shibaozhai. A 12 story wooden pagoda is built
against a sheer cliff. We continue sailing through the beautiful landscape of
Sichuan Province. The last night on ship, we enjoy the Captain's farewell
banquet. We arrive in Chongqing and enjoy a city tour if time allows.
Kunming is known as the city of eternal spring because flowers bloom year
round. This city also is the terminus for the Burma Road. It is
the home of 24 different ethnic minorities.
Lijiang was put on the World Cultural Heritage List in 1997. It is a
charming old city of cobblestone streets, shops, canals, and old wooden
buildings. The corners of the roofs have graceful corners curving
upward. No cars or buses are allowed in the old section of Lijiang.
It was largely rebuilt after an earthquake in early 1996.
There are many Miao and other embroideries available in the local market.
We visit the Museum of Dongba Culture that has a collection of Dongba cultural
relics of the Naxi people as well as historical and cultural relics of Lijiang.
We take our bus to Dali and on the way visit Xizhou village, a typical mansion
home of the Bai ethnic group, Zhoucheng village for a workshop of tie-dyeing
with indigo, we visit Xinjua village, and Heqing village for a silver-making
workshop.
We visit the famed Three Pagodas, cruise on Erhai Lake and visit a small
village on an island in the middle of the lake. We see the ancient city
wall, and the Catholic Church and walk through told town.
A highlight of the tour is meeting Mr. He LiYi, author of "Mr. China's
Son". He willingly autographs copies of his book that tells the
story of his life during the cultural revolution. He had a guardian
angel watching over him and his family, but he was not aware of this. We
are so fortunate to meet this charming man and enjoy his hospitality.
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Shops in Kunming displaying Miao ethnic embroideries
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Girls in the Yunnan Province enjoy some fresh coconut
milk at the silk festival.
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Purchasing ethnic embroideries at a small village
near Jinghong
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A welcome sign for members of Pat's tour at Mr. He Li
Yi's Cultural Cafe in Dali. |
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Pat drinks "healthy tea" with Mr. He Li Yi
at his Cultural Cafe in Dali. |
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In Dali, tour members visit Michael in his Miao embroidery shop in Dali. |
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Bill and Sally Lambert of Des Moines, IA stop at
Erhai Lake near
the Three Pagodas during the 2002 tour. |
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The Three Pagodas in Dali were built
between the 7th and 10th centuries as Buddhist places of worship.
The tallest of the three stands at 230 ft tall. |
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Tour members stop at an old Catholic Church in Dali. |
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Busy travelers enjoy foot massage after a long day in
Dali. |
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Leilani King of Vancouver, Canada chats with
three Naxi women in Lijiang during the Spring 2002 tour. |
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Pam Creswell of Boulder, CO shops for Miao
embroideries in Lijiang. |
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A very young girl learns laundry techniques from her
mother during the 2001 tour. |
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Tour visitors in 2002 enjoy a rare view of the Jade
Snow Mountains. These mountains are normally shrouded in cloud
cover. |
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A wide array of tie-dye items are available at the
workshop in Lijiang. |
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A very young girl learns tie-dye techniques from her
mother and grandmother near Lijiang. |
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Nothing like those foot massages... |
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Four men working at the silver workshop in Hequing. |
Jiangsu
Province, home of Nanjing and Suzhou
Nanjing is home of the Yun Brocade Weaving Research Center where we see the
huge, two-story looms operated by two people. The silks are woven on
these massive looms. We also visit a great exhibition of ethnic minority
clothing at the Center. Nanjing was an important site for Mandarin
examinations and we visit the examination complex, a great local market and
the longest ancient city wall in the world. Nanjing has one of the
finest museums in China which includes a jade burial suit, porcelains, lacquer ware, and minority garments.
Suzhou, often referred to as "paradise on Earth", is home to the
only embroidery research institute in the world. Founded in 1957, the National
Embroidery Research Institute is home to many special kinds of embroidery
described below:
 | Two-sided embroidery which is identical in appearance on both sides. |
| Crisscross embroidery (random stitches which resemble the brush strokes of an oil
painting). |
| Kesi tapestry which is hand woven on a loom. |
| Two-image embroidery (different images on both sides). |
| Some pieces are worked completely in knots and others are worked using a diagonal stitch
on gauze mesh, but are completely reversible.
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We visit the Lingering Garden, notable for its viewing pavilions. We visit
the Silk Museum designed by architect, I. M. Pei. We learn the process of silk
spinning at the Silk Reeling Mill and enjoy a canal cruise and lunch at a
local tea garden restaurant.
We enjoy the evening performance at the Master of the Nets Garden. A
portion of this garden is replicated at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New
York City. We enjoy a buffet dinner at our hotel.
Shanghai, the International City
Shanghai is a city of 14 million people. It has once again become an
international city known for shopping and business.
Shanghai's new museum has a collection of 120,000 cultural relics in 11
galleries. The museum features a marvelous display of costumes from Chinese
minority nationalities. We drive along the Bund at night to view the
spectacular skyline. Shanghai has many new skyscrapers, each one an
architectural marvel.
We visit the Bound Foot Shoe Museum in a private home. The collection
includes over 800 pairs of exquisitely embroidered shoes. We go the Jin Mao
Tower and view the city from the 88th floor. If time allows we will shop for
antiques. We enjoy a buffet dinner at our hotel for our last night in China.
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Views of Shanghai from a recent tour. Tour
participants get a view from the Jin Mao Tower, the third tallest
building in the world (88 floors). |
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Shoes on display at the Bound Foot Shoe
Museum in Shanghai
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- Optional Extension for those travelers interested in continuing
on to
Hong Kong.
Hong Kong is no longer a British colony. As of July 1, 1997, it is a province of the
People's Republic of China.
Opportunities for shopping and visits to galleries abound in Hong Kong, as well as
scenic tour opportunities. A good part of the time in Hong Kong is unscheduled for
informal activities.
Scenic
tour opportunities in Hong Kong provide stunning views of the city. |
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Tour participants inspect part of Valery
Garrett's embroidery collection during a visit to Hong Kong. |
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Additional Tour Notes:
Tour includes round trip air from the US West Coast, hotels, daily
buffet breakfasts, lunches and dinners in China, and breakfasts in Hong Kong. It also
includes all transportation required within China to travel from site to site, and any
sightseeing costs for items listed in the itinerary. The tours are fully escorted from the
West Coast. All hotels are four or five star, except in some remote areas where only three
star hotels are available. Tours also include all tips to drivers, local guides,
and our national guide.
Please email for the
tour price or for answers to any additional questions.
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