Pottery Firing Craftsmanship
01 · Historical Records
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 · Core Techniques & Process
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.
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 · Regional Records & Related Items
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.
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04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Yingjing sandware is not glazed, relying entirely on earth and fire to speak; whether the product is good or bad lies almost entirely in the craftsman's hands: the strength of the hand, the fineness or coarseness of the patterns, the degree of polishing, the quality of glazing, and the heat of the firing—if any single link relaxes, no good ware comes out. The four steps of material collection, body forming, glazing, and firing are linked head to tail; among them, body forming and shaping is the link that determines the appearance, and this chain itself is a living fossil of the small-kiln handicraft industry of western Sichuan. Yet today it is hard to find old craftsmen who can complete the full set of steps, and the old method of crushing with a work-ox is rarely done anymore; whether the craft can continue depends to a large extent on the few pairs of hands that still persist.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Li Renping 03-1355
- Sun Nuoqilin 03-1356
- Baimaqunjia 04-1877
- Zhang Hongliang 05-2785
- Zhang Wenliang 05-2786
- Li Shoucai 05-2787
- Xie Hua 05-2788
- Lu Jingping 05-2789
- Liang Xiancai 05-2790
- Luo Tianxi 05-2791
- Zhang Luqi 05-2792
- Dangzhenpichu 05-2793
- Chen Shaokang 05-2794
- Geli
- Cengqinghong
- Zhang Yancheng
- Liu Yuhua
- Xiao Wenhuan
- Yuan Yingde
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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