Chengchengyaotou Ceramic Firing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
According to Ming-dynasty county gazetteers, in Chengcheng 'porcelain sand began in the Tang dynasty,' reaching its height in the Ming and Qing dynasties.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Yaotou Town in Chengcheng County, in the east of the Guanzhong region of Shaanxi, produces coarse porcelain. The area is rich in coal resources, and fireclay deposits are distributed in the stone cliffs of gullies, with white and purple raw materials occurring together, making it convenient for firing ceramics and sand ware. Yaotou porcelain is produced entirely by indigenous hand methods, with raw materials taken from local fireclay; the processing includes four steps: slip-making, body-making, glazing and calcining. For the slip, dry clay ore is first crushed, soaked in a water pool for several days, then stirred into slurry and settled in separate pools. Coarse clay is made into large vessels such as jars and basins, while fine clay is used for fine porcelain such as bowls and saucers. The products of the porcelain industry are closely connected with people's production and daily life; their forms show refinement within roughness and ingenuity within plainness, giving a simple and natural beauty, entirely different from the delicate and exquisite style of southern ceramics. The tiger-shaped porcelain pillows are exquisitely lustrous, glaring like tigers yet childishly lovable; they serve as both pillows and ornaments, and carry the meaning of warding off evil and bolstering courage. The 'lazy wife' seats for children bear the flavor of primitive painted pottery: the child sits inside while the mother is free to attend to housework. The black rat jars and lion jars have unusual images, with rats and lions in various postures on their lids as knobs, full of delightful charm. The glaze colors of Yaotou coarse porcelain are mostly white, yellow and black, with blue and brownish red as well. In recent decades, people's lifestyles and consumption concepts have changed greatly, and the main products of Yaotou ceramics — jars, basins and pots — have gradually lost their uses.
Archival Records of Process Steps
Yaotou porcelain is produced entirely by indigenous hand methods, with raw materials taken from local fireclay; the processing includes four steps: slip-making, body-making, glazing and calcining.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Local farmers make use of the slack seasons in agriculture: in summer and autumn they make bodies and paint decoration, and in winter they fire kilns and sell, passing the craft down from generation to generation. The flowers and animals decorating the various vessels share the same origins as the local paper-cutting and dough-flower forms; the subjects are mostly lotus, peony and chrysanthemum, or the characters 'fortune' (fu), 'emolument' (lu), 'longevity' (shou) and 'happiness' (xi).
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
At present, most ceramic artists are already in their sixties or seventies; fewer than twenty new artists have been trained; the few remaining small workshops can only intermittently manufacture small quantities of seasonal goods according to market demand. The Yaotou ceramic craft has now reached the point of endangerment and urgently needs rescue. Li Yicang (recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): Representative inheritor of the Chengcheng Yaotou ceramic firing technique, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the first national-level batch. Li Yicang learned bowl-kiln skills in his family kiln from childhood under his uncle Li Shusheng, completing his apprenticeship at the age of eighteen; he excels most at iron-rust-blossom and blue-and-white incised-floral techniques. The iron-rust-blossom technique has a long history; his sunflower and fishnet patterns faintly reveal the style of the Yangshao culture. The incised characters 'fortune, longevity, flowers and fragrance' on the large old bowls are free and easy, in a bold style; works such as the 'Fish Play with Lotus' plate, the 'Chrysanthemums Bloom in Abundance' lid and the 'Alfalfa Flower' bowl are all bold in conception and strikingly imaginative. His works have soft, lustrous tones; the patterns are mainly outlined with lines, the painted decoration flowing and fluent, the brushwork simple, with characteristics of simplicity, steadiness, archaicness and elegance. His iron-rust-blossom and blue-and-white works have been collected by the Shaanxi Provincial Art Museum, the Shenzhen Art Museum, the University of Hong Kong, the Shaanxi Art Museum and other institutions. Male, Han ethnicity, born in 1931, died in 2009, from Chengcheng, Shaanxi. Zhou Tiehuai (recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in October 1951, from Chengcheng County, Shaanxi Province. Representative inheritor of the Chengcheng Yaotou ceramic firing technique, a national-level intangible cultural heritage project in the fifth national-level batch. Ceramic firing technician. From childhood he learned ceramic firing skills at the kiln from his father, and in the 1980s began independently firing ceramics in the family kiln. He insists on production by traditional hand skills; his main products include lion jars, rat jars, single-handled pots and wine geta jars. The painted porcelain patterns absorb the formal features of folk paper-cutting and dough flowers; they are bold and archaic, showing ingenuity within roughness, with subjects mostly auspicious lotus, peony and chrysanthemum, or the characters 'fortune' (fu), 'emolument' (lu), 'longevity' (shou) and 'happiness' (xi). A filming team from the CCTV program 'Encyclopedia Exploration' used his ceramic workshop as the background for the feature documentary 'A Thousand Years of Kiln Fire,' broadcast nationwide. He has repeatedly participated in exhibitions of intangible cultural heritage traditional crafts organized by governments at various levels.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Li Yicang 01-0130
- Zhou Tiehuai 05-2727
- Liu Zhongyang
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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