Silk Factory - Beijing

We went and visited a silk factory in the middle of Beijing. It was a really neat tour and we learned a lot about the history of the silk road and the silk industry.

Here is one of the early silk looms:

They showed us the progression of the silk worm:

After the silk worm is boiled, the thread is placed on this machine to unwind the silk from the cocoon:

Michael took some video of how they take the larvae out and begin to stretch the silk:

Here is a video of how they stretch the silk to go into blankets:

Then they let us stretch a piece of the silk!

Michael pulled too much and they had to fix it :)

Michael outside the factory with our guide Lucy ... and all of the silk that we bought: