中国丝绸博物馆

About this audio guide

This guide to the China National Silk Museum in Hangzhou centers on the wardrobe of Qing dynasty women, pulled from tombs in scattered pieces after more than a century of decay. It follows restorer Lou Shuqi's eight-year effort to reassemble a robe of Empress Dowager Cixi and a garment worn by a concubine of the Qianlong emperor, using thread finer than a human hair. Lou has said the work takes a calm mind and, just as much, physical strength, hours bent over a frame with the needle moving in near silence.