Li Renping

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Li Renping, Male, Unspecified, from Qinzhou, Guangxi, is a third-batch national representative bearer of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-98). The tradition is documented in Qinzhou, Guangxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship in Qinzhou, Guangxi: The Qinzhou Nixing pottery firing craft centers on Qinzhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Its clay material is taken from the unique hard earth on the west bank and the soft earth on the east bank of the Qin River, which, when mixed, yields a suitable hard-and-soft balance and a pure, fine texture. The Qinzhou Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center is the project protection unit; Nixing pottery is mostly made into teapots, food vessels, and display pieces, and sells in Guangdong-Guangxi and Southeast Asia. Guangxi Qinzhou Nixing pottery originated in the Tang dynasty and flourished during the Xianfeng reign of the Qing dynasty.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in March 1946 in Qinzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Representative bearer of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship (Qinzhou Nixing Pottery Firing Craftsmanship), a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. A Master of Chinese Arts and Crafts. Born into a peasant family, he entered the Qinzhou Nixing Crafts Factory as an apprentice in 1973 and learned pottery craft under Pan Jiansan and others; he later served as director of the Qinzhou Nixing Pottery Craft Research Institute. Over forty years in the craft he has become thoroughly proficient in eight major traditional techniques: incised floral decoration (chihua), raised relief (tugu), circular sculpture, openwork, inlay, archaistic imitation and mould impression. He innovates boldly, applying modern arts and crafts design concepts to the creative design of Nixing pottery; upholding the principle of preserving local and ethnic characteristics while meeting market demand, he has designed many new works and achieved outstanding results. Within the documented technical tradition of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship in Qinzhou, Guangxi: Its clay material is taken from the unique hard earth on the west bank and the soft earth on the east bank of the Qin River in Qinzhou, which, when mixed, yields a suitable hard-and-soft balance and a pure, fine texture. Nixing pottery is fired at a high temperature of around 1200°C; the finished ware is hard in texture, and after grinding and polishing shows colors such as antique bronze, ink green, purplish red, and sky mottle—fine and lustrous, with brilliant colors, and free of sand grains, pores, and toxicity. Tea stored in a Nixing teapot still keeps its original color and flavor after one or two days. With long use, tea deposits (commonly called "tea buds") accumulate inside the pot; even without putting in tea leaves, simply pouring in boiling water still releases a tea aroma. Nixing flowerpots and vases also have a flower-preserving function: used to grow or arrange flowers, they make the flowers luxuriant and the foliage lush. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Two clays from two banks": A blend of hard clay from the west bank and soft from the east, mixed in the one ratio that gives Qinzhan ware its fineness. "Fired colours": Fired near 1200°C and polished, the surface takes bronze, ink-green, purple and flashing colours without grit or bubbles. "The teapot": A Qinxian pot keeps the colour and taste of tea for days, and improves with decades of use.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

Representative works such as the Tall Drum-shaped Flower Vase, the Zhuang Village Pomegranate Vase and the Sea-stone Flower Vat have won artistic awards in the trade. He has long been committed to exhibition and promotion at home and abroad and to the training of successors.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Li Renping · National Representative Bearer Archive