Christine
Sorry for late response. I always hope that someone knowledgeable will post information and feel that everyone must be sick of me always responding.
First, good to hear from you and I hope that your stay in Beijing goes well. Do you want to go into your profile and change your location from Taipei, Taiwan to Beijing, China?
I am not very good on shopping in Beijing. The only help for silk threads I can give is Silk Street which is relatively close to the Forbidden City - here is a link
http://www.beijingtraveltips.com/shoppi ... iushui.htm I have visited myself (2005) but can only remember silk fabrics (aside from lots of garments) but they may have silk threads or can point you in the right direction. The link gives location.
A much more interesting option if you can spare a weekend would be to go down to the Sunday market in Kaili, Guizhou where you will find lots of silk threads for sale in the market. Enjoy the dealers in the evenings and perhaps visit a village during the day on Saturday. There is now a fast road link from Guiyang to Kaili. As you will be experienced at living in China you can probably sort it all out for yourself. If you want some help try forum member Wang Jun - see his email on the bottom of his website
http://www.gzcyts.com/en1/. (His ISP does not like forum generated emails and they tend to bounce back but OK with direct emails.)
Re traditional embroidery techniques. I think it depends whether you mean Han or minority. Suzhou near Shanghai should certainly be on your list re Han embroidery. Just as background - I have no idea about the particular operation - here is some info
http://www.suembroidery.com/about/about%20suzhou.htm S W China especially Guizhouz would be the place for minority embroidery. See the main tti website, China, for examples
http://www.tribaltextiles.info/Countrie ... leries.htm
I would welcome any contributions re info on textile shopping in Beijing. Please, as you make discoveries, Christine, do share with us for the benefit of others.
All the best
_________________
Pamela
http://www.tribaltextiles.infoon-line tribal textiles resource