Uyghur Mozhifatutao Firing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
The earthenware of Tumushuke was not a craft brought into workshops from the cities; it emerged together with the settling of herders. After the Qin and Han dynasties, people at the edges of the oases one after another gave up the nomadic life of following water and grass, and on the spot used riverbed clay together with tamarisk and Chinese parasol trees to fire everyday vessels, a practice that was continued without interruption over a long period. This area lies close to Aksu and Kuqa, and the forming approach of the mold method is shared with those two places; but what truly determines the vessel shapes is the convenience of obtaining materials in the desert oases — the fuel comes from Euphrates poplars, the clay from the river channels, and people and materials have never been separated. Precisely for this reason, this craft is still transmitted today in parallel around Tumushuke, Aksu and Kuqa, while the practices of the Kashgar area belong to a separate lineage.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Pottery is one of humanity's ancient traditional handicrafts. The mold-made earthenware firing technique transmitted in the Tumushuke jurisdiction of the Third Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps stands apart among the many pottery-making methods and is highly distinctive. It is deeply influenced by the ancient Qiuci culture and has formed a unique style in the Tumushuke jurisdiction, full of local character. In its process flow, this earthenware firing technique is close to the pottery methods of the Aksu region and Kuqa County, and differs from those of the Kashgar region. The history of earthenware production in Tumushuke is very long. Since the Qin and Han dynasties, a small number of herders in the Tumushuke area had already begun the transition from nomadic to settled life. To make life more convenient, they used local clay, tamarisk and Chinese parasol wood to fire everyday utensils, and in the course of this they continually summed up their experience, creating the relatively advanced mold-made earthenware firing technique. Although the mold-made earthenware firing technique is still transmitted in the Tumushuke area today, under the impact and influence of industrialized production methods this ancient pottery craft is declining day by day and urgently needs rescue and protection.
Archival Records of Process Steps
In its process flow, this earthenware firing technique is close to the pottery methods of the Aksu region and Kuqa County, and differs from those of the Kashgar region.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The transmission of Uyghur mold-made earthenware is concentrated in the regiment farms and companies under Tumushuke City of the Third Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. Production is mostly carried out in family courtyards; the vessels serve for the makers' own use and are also given as gifts at festivals; between master and apprentice the craft is passed down through a set of molds and oral formulas, without dedicated workshops. Since the molds are the core of the mold method, the patterns kept by each household are not the same, and the same clay blank will open into different decorative designs in different hands. This layer of household-by-household variation is precisely the basis for judging which household produced a given vessel.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Uyghur Mozhifatutao Firing Craftsmanship · Uyghur Mozhifatutao Firing Craftsmanship · Uyghur Mozhifatutao Firing Craftsmanship.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Its products cover a wide range of subjects and rich forms, full of individuality and expressive power, with considerable artistic and ornamental value. Yahefujiang Yusuying (recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Uyghur, born in December 1974, from Tumushuke City, Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Representative inheritor of the Uyghur mold-made earthenware firing technique, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the fifth national-level batch. He began learning the Uyghur mold-made earthenware firing technique at the age of six, and has deeply studied and mastered the full set of skills required for all process steps, including clay preparation, mixing, resting, kneading, shaping, glazing, firing and finishing. He is also one of the few practitioners in the region who persist in transmitting the Uyghur mold-made earthenware firing technique. The pottery he fires is rich in form, with distinctive expressive power and vivid individuality.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Abudoureheman Maimaitiming 01-0125
- Tuerxun Rousitamu 05-2722
- Yahefujiang Yusuying 05-2723
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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