As Beijing goes international, so do its tailors
3/11/2006 16:04
A Beijing-based tailor has found international fame in recent years as
large crowds of visitors flood in every day from the four corners of the
globe.
Ji Mingren's store at the Silk Market, a major stopping point for
international tourists in the downtown diplomatic area, has received a number of
African leaders who are in Beijing to attend a historic China-Africa summit
slated for Nov. 4-5.
"I'm really proud to be a 'royal tailor'", said Ji,
whose latest customers include Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and her
family.
The stylish president, known for her good taste in clothing, told
Xinhua she loves Chinese silk, which is "beautiful" and " silky".
Her sister
was browsing through a stylebook while Ji took note of the president's size in
her hotel room Thursday. "So many colors and different styles. It's difficult
for me to choose," she said.
Ji, 41, said the clothes will be delivered in 24
hours.
Guinea Bissau President Joao Bernardo Vieira and his family felt
perfectly at home when Ji brought a wide variety of wool and silk to their hotel
room Wednesday.
In an earlier visit to the Silk Market, the first lady had
chosen wool for the president, silk for herself and an embroidered slipper for
their daughter.
"Let's pose for a photo together," their son offered
cheerfully as Ji was taking his size for a jacket.
The Beijing Summit of the
Forum on China-Africa Cooperation ( FOCAC), which attracts 48 African countries
that have diplomatic relations with China, will be one of the highest-profile
international gatherings.
Ji, an acute businessman from east China's Jiangsu
Province, has brought one million yuan (US$125,000) worth of commodities from
Suzhou and Hangzhou, two leading silk production centers, to meet the
forthcoming shopping spree by the African guests, particularly the first
ladies.
"For many foreigners, the Silk Market is almost a stereotypical image
of Beijing. They love the silk and traditional Chinese garments," he said.
An
apprentice stealthily learning sewing at a tailor's shop in Shanghai in the
1970s, Ji said he feared very much to be ranked a "capitalist" in those
days.
He came to Beijing in 1983 as a peddler selling self-made jackets,
shirts and skirts on a downtown street. "Beijingers didn' t have much clothes to
choose from in those days. So I became very successful."
In two years, he had
made enough money to rent a store, accepted eight apprentices and opened up the
first privately-owned store in the Yongdinglu community in western Beijing. Back
then, it cost 25 yuan (some US$6) to tailor a woolen jacket and five yuan for a
pair of trousers.
He was one of the first tailors to be based at the Silk
Market in the 1990s.
Large crowds of foreign customers, who make up 80
percent of all the shoppers at the market, have compelled Li and many other shop
owners and assistants to become multilingual salespeople. Many can greet the
shoppers and bargain in English, French, Spanish and Arabic, said Wang Zili,
general manager of the Silk Market.
"I studied English at school and managed
to speak some Arabic, Italian, French and Spanish after I became a shop
assistant in Beijing in 2004," said Cheng Wenli, a 20-year-old shop assistant.
"Now I can chat and bargain with the customers in any of these languages.
"
"The first lady from Guinea Bissau bought jeans here," said 19- year-old Gu
Dongxue. "She spoke English and praised the quality of our
clothes."
Xinhua News
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