A couple of hours’ drive from Shanghai, Suzhou, one of China’s main silk-producing cities, attracts modern-day textile retailers and tourists alike. Its world-famous, high-quality silk production is second to none, and no visit to Suzhou would be complete without touring the No. 1 Silk Factory. The four-hour factory tour takes you through the entire silk-making process, from silkworms to finished cloth. Each silkworm spins a cocoon from a continuous 3,000-foot-long strand of saliva. Workers then soak the cocoons in hot water to soften them and use machines to twist together the strands of four to eight cocoons to form a silk thread. How they find the end of the almost invisible strand of each cocoon is mind-boggling. You can order silk products from the factory store and see other examples of the city’s famous silk products at the Suzhou Embroidery Research Institute.

Besides its silk industry, Suzhou boasts more than 60 classical gardens, the oldest of which dates back to the 5th century B.C. Created in 1140, the Master of Nets Garden is Suzhou’s smallest but arguably most beautiful and charming garden.