Instead of taking the expressway, our driver took us the back way to Mutianyu, through absolutely beautiful rural Chinese countryside. It was wonderful to see, especially because the cities are so dense. Of course, most of China is in fact quite rural.
After the wall, we were taken to a cloisonee "factory" (above): it was a series of small rooms with one or two people in each working by hand (no machinery). Here a woman is painting the design onto a plate. She is filling in where metal wires have been applied to create the design. (Very little ventilation in this room and only natural light, by the way...)
These are vases that have been fired in a kiln...the next step is to file down the raised wires so that they are flush with the surface (again, working conditions were a bit...lacking in health and safety considerations, shall we say).
This is corn spread out in the "factory" courtyard to dry...it will be fed to pigs on the surrounding farms.
{kaboom--my head just exploded from cuteness}. This is a small puppy named Happiness who was running around the "factory." He is not allowed in the gift shop because he apparently "pee-pees" on everything.
Just a lovely lovely truly memorable day...
1 comment:
Wow, you have realy seen some sights! Lovely pictures. I want the panda bear.
Annette
Post a Comment