Zhang Hongliang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

At the age of 18 he began learning sandware making and firing from his father. He later founded the Zhang Family Sandware Pottery Workshop on his own, and by the age of 35 had become a well-known kiln master in the locality. Within the regional tradition and school record of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship in Pingding, Shanxi: The Pingding sandware making technique is centered on Pingding County, Shanxi Province, and extends to the Taiyuan and Yangquan areas; since the Tang and Song dynasties Pingding has been one of the northern ceramic producing areas, its sandware known for withstanding boiling and lasting use, and sold since the Ming and Qing dynasties throughout Shanxi, Hebei, and Inner Mongolia. The technique is exacting: from selecting materials to the finished piece's smoked glaze, the firing must be adjusted according to the season and the nature of the clay. The Pingding sandware making technique originated earliest around Dongguan Chongxingpo in Pingding County and is mainly distributed in Pingding County and the Heshun, Shouyang, and Jingxing areas. In the Ming and Qing dynasties Pingding sandware was already famous far and wide, as renowned as Yixing zisha pottery and Guangdong sand-pots, and was historically known as one of the "three top-ranked" wares (san dingjia). The inscription on a stone tablet of the 21st year of the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty (1756) in Beizhuang Village, Pingding, clearly records the local history of "plowing and pottery-making as occupations".

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnicity, born in June 1970, a native of Pingding County, Shanxi Province. National representative bearer of pottery firing craftsmanship (Pingding sandware making techniques), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. Master of Arts and Crafts of Shanxi Province. While strictly following the methods of antiquity, he made bold improvements to key stages such as raw-material formulation, forming methods, kiln temperature control and command of the fire. Beyond traditional sandware, he also developed new products that are both practical and environmentally sound, including high-grade tableware, kitchenware and tea-set artworks. In addition to travelling continually to sandware-producing areas throughout the country to learn from and exchange experience with them, he studied at Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Soochow University, taking his own practice as the foundation while drawing widely on other arts. Over more than thirty years in the craft he has taken on more than ten apprentices, and he established the Pingding sandware making techniques transmission institute and research institute. Within the documented technical tradition of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship in Pingding, Shanxi: The Pingding sandware making technique is the traditional craft by which sandware artisans of Pingding, Shanxi, use the local, distinctive quality clay to fire sandware through multiple process steps, including mixing the clay, shaping, glazing, drying, kiln firing, and smoking. Traditional Pingding sandware comes in fine-sand and coarse-sand types. Fine-sand products mainly include ming pots, handled pots, jars, sand hotpots, and sand kettles; coarse-sand products mainly include whole pots, No. 2 to No. 4 pots, sand basins, and sand flowerpots. The Pingding sandware making technique is exacting: from selecting materials to the finished piece's smoked glaze, every process step requires manual skill. The clay must be blue crucible clay and bauxite from 20 meters from the coal seam, and sticky crucible clay from 15 meters, weathered and aged for more than a year before use; the sifted clay must be passed through de-ironing; the clay is trodden with bare feet to increase its stickiness and toughness; firing generally uses a vertical kiln, with the layers of fuel and the position of the blanks exactly right; the smoked glaze, also called "carburizing reduction", hinges on quick, precise movements. Regarding Pingding sandware making, the trade passes down the mnemonic: "first the clay, second the pressing, third the sifting; fourth the treading, fifth the pinching, sixth into the kiln; seventh the fanning, eighth the forking, ninth the smoking; the final quality rests with the kiln master." A characteristic of the Pingding sandware making technique is that, in firing, the number of fire holes in the vertical kiln and the dimensions of the furnace chamber are determined by the quantity of sandware being made and the thickness of the blanks, while temperature and duration rest entirely on the kiln master's experience. The Pingding sandware making technique has a long history, with production as early as the Qin dynasty. The "Products" section of the Qianlong-era Pingding Prefecture Gazetteer records: "Sand is produced in the mountains north of the prefecture." "The sand is white in color and is commonly called 'ganzi'." "The villagers make pottery vessels from it and sell them to other places." "What the capital calls a 'sand diaozi' is precisely the product of this prefecture." Pingding sandware has long been known for its four features: "cooking rice without changing its color, decocting medicine without altering its properties, stewing meat without changing its flavor, and boiling water without scale". Its products are healthy, eco-friendly, practical, and attractive, and display a simple, substantial cultural charm through their distinctive cultural mood and practical functions. The Pingding sandware making technique carries a long history and culture, displays the superb skill and outstanding creativity of ancient craftsmen, and has considerable historical, artistic, and socio-cultural value. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "": "Archival record of process steps": The Pingding sandware making technique is the traditional craft by which sandware artisans of Pingding, Shanxi, use the local, distinctive quality clay to fire sandware through multiple process steps, including mixing the clay, shaping, glazing, drying, kiln firing, and smoking.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2018, Zhang Hongliang was announced in the fifth batch of national representative bearers for Pottery Firing Craftsmanship, with Pingding, Shanxi as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship in Pingding, Shanxi: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2014 (batch 4), with Pingding, Shanxi as its declared area, and Pingding County Guan YaoShaQiTaoYi Co., Ltd. as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.

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. Zhang Hongliang · National Representative Bearer Archive