Soap queen

A woman from suburban Beijing is holding an exhibition of her collection of the daily item from different countries, Deng Zhangyu reports.

For many travelers, a new destination means finding delicious food and visiting landmark buildings or popular sites. For soap collector Chen Jing, visiting a new place means looking for everything related to soap-special ingredients and unusual crafts used in soap production or interesting bath culture.

Chen has collected more than 2,000 bars of soap over the past 13 years. Her collection covers two walls of the living room in her home in Beijing. Now, she is holding an exhibition at Ideal Gas space located in the city's 798 Art Zone.

Chen has selected 256 soaps she gathered from 31 countries and regions to tell stories of the little things that are used in daily life. The show has sections that provide information on the history of making soap, various ingredients used in soap, soap art and some of her interesting journeys to find soap. The show is on through Sunday.