Somewhere on the northwest outskirts of Suzhou is a place dubbed "Embroidery Town" where the town's main drag is composed of shops selling hand stitched embroidered pictures. We spent a couple hours there this afternoon and bought quite a few framed pictures. The town is unique because for four blocks both sides of the street are filled with nothing but embroidery stores - most of them with a person out front hand sewing a picture with silk thread onto silk cloth
Another surprising fact was that the vendors did not negotiate much on price at all. Typically in a shop in China selling decorative items, the actual selling price is well less than half the original asking price. However, in embroidery town, we did not get any vendor to lower his original asking price more than 10%. Nonetheless, the prices were quite inexpensive, especially considering the labor needed to produce these
The embroidered pictures are remarkable, because from five paces away, they look like a painting, and some even look like a photograph. Only when you put your nose to the glass is it clear that the picture is formed by hand stitched, colored thread. Suzhou is known for these embroidered pictures, so we were enthused to buy several pictures showing garden and canal scenes from Suzhou.
In the pictures above, you can see the Cazzato women shopping and loading up the van with their purchases.
Another surprising fact was that the vendors did not negotiate much on price at all. Typically in a shop in China selling decorative items, the actual selling price is well less than half the original asking price. However, in embroidery town, we did not get any vendor to lower his original asking price more than 10%. Nonetheless, the prices were quite inexpensive, especially considering the labor needed to produce these
The embroidered pictures are remarkable, because from five paces away, they look like a painting, and some even look like a photograph. Only when you put your nose to the glass is it clear that the picture is formed by hand stitched, colored thread. Suzhou is known for these embroidered pictures, so we were enthused to buy several pictures showing garden and canal scenes from Suzhou.
In the pictures above, you can see the Cazzato women shopping and loading up the van with their purchases.
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