Sew Man
If you need a shirt in a squirt or a velvet Mao jacket for that can't-miss party, Shanghai is the place to be. Threaded along Tianjin Road, like so many close-knit sweaters, are rows of aluminum shacks inhabited by entrepreneurial street tailors like Yu Chunlin whose skill and low prices make shoppers drool.
Yu Chunlin opened his shack back in 1986 after moving to Shanghai from Jiangsu province. He loves the freedom of being his own boss and sometimes has so much business that he parcels it out to friends depending on his opinion of the customers. "If it's for a beautiful woman, I'll do it myself. But if it's for an old lady, I'll probably pass it on."
Here's a price sampler for clothes he hand-made to cover Candide's supple flesh.
Silk shirt - 50 yuan ($6.00)
Pair of pants - 50 yuan ($6.00)
Skirt - 50 yuan ($6.00)
Velvet two-piece Mao suit - 250 yuan ($30.00)
