Su Embroidery

Su embroidery is one of China's four great embroidery schools, and Suzhou is its home. The studio-showrooms near the old town employ masters who split silk threads into slivers so fine a single petal needs a hundred stitches - some pieces are identical on both sides.

You can watch them work at embroidery speed (which is to say, very slowly) and buy finished pieces from panel-sized to handbag-sized. The small framed pieces make perfect, packable gifts.