Cengqinghong

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Cengqinghong, Male, Han, from Xingjing, Sichuan, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-98). The tradition is documented in Xingjing, Sichuan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship in Xingjing, Sichuan: Yingjing sandware has long been made by farming households as family units, one household one trade, obtaining earth locally and firing kilns locally, with products mostly being daily utensils. The sandware is heat-resistant and durable and low-priced; after the Reform and Opening-up it was once exported in large quantities in exchange for mountain goods and agricultural supplies. Today, the Yingjing County Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center undertakes the recording and transmission of the craft, but under the impact of machine-pressed products and low-priced imports from elsewhere, few households still maintain hand-made production. Yingjing sandware production had already appeared more than two thousand years ago, and thereafter it has continuously used the generation-to-generation handed-down manual method without change. The local climate is rainy and humid; the sandware does not absorb moisture or go moldy, and is reliable for pickling vegetables, storing grain, and boiling water—this is precisely the practical reason it has endured to the present. Made from clay and coal cinders, the sandware has a loose texture, resists acid and alkali, and does not carry over flavors, exactly compensating for the ceramic wares' weaknesses of being easily chipped and vulnerable to sudden cold and heat.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Cengqinghong is anchored in the documented technical standards of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship in Xingjing, Sichuan. Within the documented technical tradition of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship in Xingjing, Sichuan: Sichuan Yingjing sandware is a folk handicraft with strong craftsmanship and rich cultural connotation. As early as more than two thousand years ago, sandware production had appeared in Yingjing. Yingjing sandware making continues the traditional manual production method left over from history, divided into steps such as material collection, body forming, glazing, and firing, of which body forming and shaping is an important link. During production, the strength of the hand operations, the fineness or coarseness of the patterns, the degree of polishing, the quality of glazing, and the heat of the firing all directly bear on the quality of the finished product. The raw materials of Yingjing sandware are mainly clay and coal cinders. The crushing step uses the primitive method of a work-ox rolling the material fine; after adding water to the raw material, it is completed by the ox treading it. Body forming uses a turntable supported by hand and pedaled by foot; the subsequent forming, appliqué, carving, and shaping are all completed within the forming step. The airing of Yingjing sandware uses the natural shade-drying method, strictly avoiding exposure to the sun. The shade-dried green body is placed into a specially made ground pit or firing kiln, ignited and sealed, and fired at a high temperature above 1000°C. When taken out of the kiln, the high-temperature product is placed into a glazing ground pit and burned to apply the glaze, finally forming the finished product. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "": "Archival Account of Craft Procedures": Yingjing sandware making continues the traditional manual production method left over from history, divided into steps such as material collection, body forming, glazing, and firing, of which body forming and shaping is an important link. The crushing step uses the primitive method of a work-ox rolling the material fine; after adding water to the raw material, it is completed by the ox treading it. Body forming uses a turntable supported by hand and pedaled by foot; the subsequent forming, appliqué, carving, and shaping are all completed within the forming step.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Cengqinghong was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Pottery Firing Craftsmanship, with Xingjing, Sichuan as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship in Xingjing, Sichuan: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Xingjing, Sichuan as its declared area, and Xingjing County Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Center 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. Cengqinghong (Xingjing, Sichuan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Cengqinghong · China ICH Official Archive