Liu Yuhua

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Liu Yuhua, Female, Li, from Baishalizuzizhi, Hainan, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship (Ⅷ-98). The tradition is documented in Baishalizuzizhi, Hainan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship in Baishalizuzizhi, Hainan: This craft is now preserved in Gaoshan Village Committee's Pobei Village area of Yacha Town, Baisha Li Autonomous County. There the Li villages are isolated in transport and have little contact with the outside product market, so handmade pottery has been able to continue. In Li villages, clay-slab building was originally women's everyday work; daily utensils such as mortars, jars, and bowls were taken by their users into the fields and markets. Handmade pottery has lost its original living status and the craft has been lost; now only seven inheritors still practice it, so rescue and protection have become urgent. If other Li townships in the county could follow Yacha's approach and set up a study point, with a few elderly people from Pobei Village leading the work, the kiln smoke and the sound of slapping slabs might remain in the villages a few more years. The history of the Li people's clay-slab pottery making can be traced back to prehistoric times; from pottery shards unearthed in Hainan it can be seen that earth-method pottery making already existed here in the early Neolithic. In Zhao Rukuo's Song-dynasty "Zhufanzhi," under the Hainan entry, it is recorded that the Li people "used earth as cauldrons," referring precisely to this kind of vessel built up by clay slabs. This method is earlier than the clay-coil building method; although later replaced by coil building, it never completely disappeared in Li mountain villages and has been passed down through generations to this day. Li villages mostly use bamboo and wood as the frame and thatch as the roof, with a hearth set on the ground inside the house; pottery is mostly made into congee pots, rice bowls, and water jars and pots. The hearth and rice cultivation are indispensable every day, so the clay-slab building craft has never been a dispensable ornament in Li society. Judging from historical sources, this method is closely related to the life of islanders around Hainan Island: where pottery clay is lacking on the island, nearby local red earth is mostly taken; since pounding the clay makes fine coil building inconvenient, slabs are beaten and built up to shape the vessel. This orientation of adapting the craft to the material is precisely where it diverges from the refined mainland pottery art.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Liu Yuhua is anchored in the documented technical standards of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship in Baishalizuzizhi, Hainan. Within the documented technical tradition of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship in Baishalizuzizhi, Hainan: The Li people's traditional clay-slab pottery craft has a long history. Analysis of pottery shards unearthed in Hainan shows that earth-method pottery making had already appeared in the early Neolithic. Zhao Rukuo's Song-dynasty "Zhufanzhi," in its "Hainan entry," says: "According to the 'Treatise on the Sui,' it is said that (the Li people) are light-hearted and fierce… and used earth as cauldrons." Pottery made by the clay-slab building method has been used by the Li people from generation to generation. Because of the impact of mechanized production implements, handmade pottery has lost its original living status, and its craft has consequently been lost. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Slab building": Paddled clay slabs are pressed onto a core and joined course by course, without a wheel and without coiled ropes. "Paddling slabs and closing the seams": Wooden bats and stone tools beat the slabs home; how hard they strike decides whether the slab bonds or splits. "Firing on the spot": The dried pots are fired on a brushwood pyre, and the scorching and mottling it leaves are deliberately kept. "Seven inheritors at Beibei village": Only seven potters remain at Beibei village, and the shapes they make still hold the aesthetic of ancient Li women.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Liu Yuhua was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Pottery Firing Craftsmanship, with Baishalizuzizhi, Hainan as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Pottery Firing Craftsmanship in Baishalizuzizhi, Hainan: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2011 (batch 3), with Baishalizuzizhi, Hainan as its declared area, and Hainan Baisha Li Autonomous County Cultural 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. Liuyuhua (Baishalizuzizhi, Hainan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Liuyuhua · China ICH Official Archive