Chen Xinhua

01 · Lineage & Regional School

He began learning the craft at the age of 19 under Jing Zuoneng, a Wuzhou Kiln firing artisan, and later took the Chinese Arts and Crafts Masters Xu Chaoxing and Guan Baocong as his teachers. Within the regional tradition and school record of Wuzhouyao Ceramic Firing Craftsmanship in Jinhuashiwucheng, Zhejiang: Historically, the Wuzhou kiln was widely distributed through the Jinhua and Quzhou area in central Zhejiang; the porcelain fired there is collectively called the "Wuzhou kiln." As a folk kiln, the Wuzhou kiln has for over a thousand years been deeply woven into local daily life; it is an important cultural marker of the locality, influencing local people's cultural psychology and living habits, and has important socio-cultural value. According to archaeological finds, the Wuzhou kiln was first fired in the Eastern Han, matured in the Six Dynasties, and reached its zenith in the Tang and Song dynasties. It is the general scholarly view that, before the Tang dynasty, the Wuzhou kiln ranked second only to the Yue kiln, and is one of the six great celadon kiln systems of north and south China.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Han ethnic group, born in May 1955 in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province. National representative bearer of Wuzhouyao Ceramic Firing Craftsmanship, a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He is a senior arts and crafts artist and a Chinese Arts and Crafts Master. He once served as director of the Jinhua Gufang Art Pottery Factory. He carries on the traditional firing techniques of the Wuzhou Kiln and has inherited and developed the traditional techniques of tiaodao (leaping-knife) decoration and dianhecai (brown-spot painting). His works have pure glazes, an elegant tone, disciplined composition and a plain, archaic simplicity, embodying both a steady and refined style and a masculine, vigorous momentum. Representative works include Wuzhou Kiln Celadon Ewer Carved with Baoxiang Flowers, The Lingering Charm of the Wuzhou Kiln and The Rhythm of Wuzhou Kiln Vessels. In 2004 he founded the Wuzhou Kiln Research Institute, dedicating himself to the restoration, study and transmission of Wuzhou Kiln porcelain-making craft. Within the documented technical tradition of Wuzhouyao Ceramic Firing Craftsmanship in Jinhuashiwucheng, Zhejiang: The Wuzhou-kiln ceramic firing craft refers to the kiln-system craft of traditional ceramic making and firing produced in ancient Wuzhou (near present-day Jinhua City, Zhejiang), based mainly on the local red argillaceous sandstone clay. The products of the Wuzhou kiln mainly include several dozen glazed-ware types such as underglaze brown-painted ware, slip-coated ware, opalescent-glaze ware, and painted ware. The raw materials for the Wuzhou-kiln ceramic firing craft are taken locally with precise proportions, and its firing process steps are many and intricate. The production flow mainly comprises stages such as raw-material preparation, throwing and trimming the body, decorative carving, and glazing and firing; from batching to firing it strictly follows traditional rules, and every step and process demands rigorous and exacting skill from the artisan, all done by hand from long practical experience, with eye, touch, and insight held in concert. The Wuzhou-kiln firing craft forms a system of its own, developing systematic kiln-system characteristics. The raw material used is the local red argillaceous sandstone clay as the porcelain clay. Underglaze dotted brown mottling, the appliqué (pile-moulding) technique, the decorative technique of applying a slip ground over the body to mask its dark colour, the opalescent-glaze kiln-transformation technique, and so on, are all Wuzhou-kiln originals. The Wuzhou kiln has special raw materials and fine formulae; its craft innovation keeps developing, and its products through the ages were all ordinary folk-use porcelain, directly tied to the daily life of local people, showing distinct kiln-system characteristics in type, shape, and glaze colour. In the Tang and Song dynasties, Wuzhou-kiln porcelain was continually exported, forming a kiln system of enormous scale. The Wuzhou kiln invented underglaze brown-painted porcelain in the Western Jin, the earliest painted porcelain fired in our country; the opalescent-glaze kiln-transformation technique has profound significance for ceramic diversity. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "": "Documented process record": The raw materials for the Wuzhou-kiln ceramic firing craft are taken locally with precise proportions, and its firing process steps are many and intricate. The production flow mainly comprises stages such as raw-material preparation, throwing and trimming the body, decorative carving, and glazing and firing; from batching to firing it strictly follows traditional rules, and every step and process demands rigorous and exacting skill from the artisan, all done by hand from long practical experience, with eye, touch, and insight held in concert.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

He has trained successors and taken on more than thirty apprentices, passing on the traditional firing techniques.

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. Chen Xinhua · National Representative Bearer Archive