Why?
Every single silk takes the price of the life of cocoon
The ideal temperature for the eggs is 25 to 30 degrees
Your body temperature will warm them
In another 7 to 15 days,
the eggs will become transparent
You'll see silhouettes of the silkworms inside
The first thing I heard was "a living creature"...
when I met Ma Rong
Be gentle!
There's a living creature inside each cocoon
A creature?
What?
A silkworm
A silkworm?
A silkworm that'll never become a moth
I understand now
To extract the cocoons silk
Tens of thousands of silkworms are killed everyday
Must Al the silkworms die?
When a silkworm hatches,
it destroys its own cocoon
All that's left is a few strands of torn silk,
which is of little value
For these cocoons, and the tiny creatures lnside,
would you play on elegy of mourning on your instrument
I am the younger brother of Ma Rong, JianMin
l'm the tottooist that you called yesterday
Was it my brother who told you about me?
Yes
It's my first time to find this kind of balcony in Paris
The whole roof is made of glass tiles
Beneath the tiles is the entrance
The glass roof is its ceiling
At night, when the lights are on,it's very beautiful
Do you rent or own the apartement?
I'm renting it
Where did you leam to tattoo?
Well... In Thailand, Laos and Vietnam
I used to travel all over before settling in France
Why did you choose France?
A French girlfriend
Then she left me
But it's in the past
What's that worm?
It's the larva of the Night Peacock
When I called you that day.
I wanted you to tattoo the image of the silkworm on my body
It's beautiful
Where do you want the tattoo?
On my left ankle
l'm a tattoo artist
I only use one kind of needle
It's made from the vine of a plant
from the tropics of Asia
I'm not like other tattoo
Nowadoys, they all use Iasers
l only use my needle
It's completely silent
Is this the ink?
It's a mixture of herbs and minerals
I crush them and then mix them
Does that hurt?
The original shakuhachi
A musical instrument that originated in the Song Dynasty
It is made with bamboo and has five holes
The instrument's length gives it its name
Is this it?
No, nor this one either
Let me show you
Mr. Ma, someone is here to see you!
Are you here to buy the eggs?
Samples are in the cupboard on the right
They look like sesame seeds?
For the convenience of the customers,
we provide special boxes to hatch the eggs
Sorry
l'm not here to buy the eggs
l'm a flute player
I'm the main flutist of the Chengdu Symphony Orchestra
I'm visiting from France
Do you speak French?
Yes
I'm Iiving in France
l'm quite happy to make a friend from there
Let me show you the souvenirs I brought from France
My wife died there, during childbirth, 19 years ago
I still have a younger brother in France now
He's a tattooist
I came here to find a teacher
This is made from a picture of the shakuhachi...
downloaded from the Internet
Shakuhachi?
You dare call it that?
You're not afraid to insult its sacred name?
In a bamboo forest, among ten thousand trees,
you won't find a single one suitabte for making one
And you talk about the Internet?
The shakuhachi is made from the root of the very best bamboo
You should take back what you said!
Don't pollute my office with your blasphemy
Don't think that you'll find the perfect bamboo so easily
Any instrument with five holes is called a shakuhachi?
The depth of each hole is completely different
It takes several months to build just one
Such subtle differences decide its sound quality
What do you think?
I like it very much
After the silkworm has completed its cocoon,
The moth that emerges must be very beautiful
It's called the Night Peacock
I want to tattoo a Night Peacock on your body.
across you back
Why?
I rarely find skin as perfect as yours
It's one in a million
Your skin is a tattoo artist's dream
Have you heard of the ailanthus tree?
When silkworms feed on the ailanthus tree.
the moth that emerges from its cocoon,
is called the Night Peacock
It is the most beautiful moth in the world
My favourite thing to do in Chengdu...
was riding a bicycle randomly around the city
I met an eminent monk who is a master of musical Instruments
I'm looking for a long lost instrument
What kind?
A shakuhachi
Follow me
Since the second year of Emperor Baoyuans reign
Scribes pricked their tongues witf needles,
and mixed their blood with gold powder
They spend three years copying Buddhist Sciptures
The parchment originates from the silkworms of the ailanthus tree
Since the sik can be extracted without kiling the silkworms,
It is used to make the sacred parchment
Do you know the ailanthus tree?
l've heard of it
In the countryside of Qijiang, they were everywhere
But after the building of the Three Gorges Dam,
they're now all buried underwater
When silkworms feed on the ailanthus three,
the moth that emerges from its cocoon,
is called the Night Peacock
It is the most beautiful moth in the world
When extracting silk from its cocoon,
there's no need to kill the sikworm within
So, in ancient Buddhist ceremonies
all the silk items are produced by sikworms...
that fed on the leaves of the ailanthus tree
I've been searching for decades
l've finally found what l've been looking for
Are you familiar with the ailonthus tree?
Can we find one nearby?
I don't know