Suzhou Silk Museum

Suzhou Silk Museum 苏州丝绸博物馆

Suzhou Silk Museum is the first Chinese museum specializing in silk. Founded in 1991, the museum is located on 2001 Renming Road, near the Beisi Pagoda in the old town of Suzhou. Covering an area of 9,500 square meters, the museum houses six exhibition halls including the Ancient Silk Exhibition, the Modern Silk Exhibition, the Special Exhibition for Children, the Mulberry Yard, the Silk Weaving Machinery Exhibition, and the Silk Cultural Art Gallery named after Master Qian Xiaoping. Of particular interest, the History Hall contains sections of the Gallery of Ancient Silk, the Sericulture Room, the Weaving & Dyeing Room, the Gallery of Imperial Weaving in Qing Dynasty, the Gallery of Republican Period’s Silk Garment, and the Gallery of Intangible Cultural Heritage. The museum shows off China’s 6,000-year-old silk history from fabulous silk cultural relics, to mulberry planting, to silkworm breeding, and finished garments. Another event you can’t miss out on are performances of traditional silk weaving as well as the applications of modern silk technology on daily life. Suzhou Silk Museum embodies a combination of the static exhibits and the dynamic activities, and of tradition and modernity.

Field Trip Information

CULMOVE 101 Cultures of Globalization: A first hand look into the process of global commodity production was offered to students in this trip. Silk was central to ancient trading lines and the beginnings of global trade such as through the Silk Road. With a focus on this object of trade, the museum provided students with an in-depth venue of analysis for how silk led to the expansion of trade.