We learned about lucky numbers in my Chinese class. In Chinese culture, the pronunciation of numbers that sound like lucky words are considered lucky. The number 8 in Chinese is "ba", which sounds like "fa", which means prosperity, wealth, or success. There are also many references of 8 in Chinese culture, such as the Chinese deities, the 8 Immortals and the Noble Eightfold path to followers of Buddha that ends suffering. At the garden, I found many forms of 8 : 8 signs with Chinese characters, the 8 points of a pagoda, 8 different stone window designs.
After lunch, we visited a silk factory where we saw silk worms being harvested, nests of silk cocoons, machines that pulled the silk of the cocoon, and the drying of the silk for final products such as comforters and sheets. The first step of silk reeling production is the grading of the cocoons, where a worker sorts the cocoons into different quality levels. Silkworms produce different cocoons because of variations in their growth and in their environment. The best cocoons are white, clean, and of good shape, size, and uniform thickness. After they are sorted, a worker pulls the thread off the individual cocoon onto a spinning rod, which takes all of the silk off and leaves the worm's shell behind. Unlike caterpillars, silk worms dies inside their cocoons. After the silk is taken off, it is dried and used in different ways. We saw silk being pulled into a machine to make a tapestry. We also got to pull a ball of airy, light silk into four corners to add to a comforter that was being made. The factory was also connected to a store with all kinds of silk items including a silk fan. silk trousers, and even a silk fanny pack! Unfortunately, prices were extremely high.
We next went to Tiger Hill. Historically, Wu King Helu was buried on the hill. Legend states that three days after he was buried, a white tiger was seen on the tomb, hence the name Tiger Hill. The Yunyuan Tiger Pagoda stands at the top of this hill. It is visibly leaning over, and apparently has been so since its completion in 961 A.D. This tower was constructed before, and taller, than Italy's Leaning Tower of Pisa. Tiger Hill also has beautiful springs and Sword Pond. Supposedly, King He Lu was a famous warrior and sword collector and kept 1000 of his most treasured swords in the pond. We looked in, but didn't see any. There some structures on this hill that were part of courtyards, typical of Chinese architecture. We headed back to Shanghai after!