Silk Village Hoi An - The Tourist

About this audio guide

This guide to Silk Village Hoi An opens with cocoons boiling in a shallow pan and a worker pulling one long unbroken thread free by hand, the demonstration this recreated village reopened in two thousand twelve to keep alive. It moves to two thousand seventeen, when inspectors in Hanoi found scarves from a trusted Vietnamese silk brand hiding a made-in-China label under its own tag, and the criminal investigation and shop closures that followed. You'll hear how the guide sets up a simple test anyone can try to tell a real cocoon's thread from an imitation. Watch the woman at the wheel behind the boiling pan for how she draws the thread off by hand.