Peking Opera Costume Factory

Today I joined a group of women as part of a day trip organized by the Shanghai Expatriate Association. We set off for Suzhou to visit a factory where the costumes for the Shanghai Peking Opera performers are made.Peking Opera is well known for its elaborate costumes and Suzhou is a city in China historically recognized for the weaving of silk and for embroidery.

We started off in the design section where we watched a couple of the artists create the patterns on paper. The paper design was then given to another worker who used a tool to make minute holes as she traced the sketch. The pattern was then passed on the the next artist, who created a paste of indigo and a white substance and smeared a watered down version over the sketch which lay on the fabric pieces. These fabric pieces were then sent out to another factory for the actual embroidery.

We proceeded down the hallway and eventually upstairs to see shoes, jewelry and gowns in various stages of construction. There is an enormous amount of manual labour put into each of the garments- some of it is done by hand rather than machine. The costumes are made of silk and are gorgeous. Many of the workers have been employed at the factory for 36 years. A few of the older women were working on a garment that had been commissioned by a bride to be in Hong Kong. That garment, complete with gold thread was absolutely stunning.



Not one of these expatriate excursions would be considered legitimate without the opportunity for shopping. So after our tour of the factory, we boarded the bus to a more central part of Suzhou where gowns, shirts and hats were made available for purchase. As lovely as they were, they are not very practical and for the asking price of the gown, I can certainly have a few bottles of wine, or maybe a hundred noodle bowls at the local shop. I abstained.