Recently, a Silk Floss Stripping Contest was held among the local farmers in Zhouquan, a town in Tongxiang City, Zhejiang Province. Forty-eight women from Zhouquan, aged between 20 to 70, participated in the event. Wearing an apron, a hood, and two long sleeves, all made of indigo fabric, these women fell over one another to strip silk floss during the contest. Finally, Qian Juanying won the contest.
The city of Tongxiang is a famous sericulture area in Zhejiang Province, also rich in silk floss. Local women in Qujiabing village in Tongxiang earned more than 6 million yuan (US$750,000) by stripping silk floss last year.
(Women of China April 28, 2007)