International Ceramic Art Conference Yixing 2005

The conference will take place in June 2005. For more information please visit the Yixing 2005 website. Article courtesy Guangzhen Zhou, Director, The Planning Office of the International Ceramic Conference, Yixing 2005.

Yixing - the Pottery Capital of China and the Teapot Center of the World
Yixing is a city situated on the western side of Lake Taihu, in the southeastern province of Jiangsu, the delta of Yangtze River, and about four hours driving distance from Shanghai. The area is also called "Fish and Rice Countryside of Jiangnan (Southeast of Yangtze River)". It is one of the richest areas of Eastern China.

According to the history source, the ceramic production history can be traced to 7,000 to 8,000 years ago in Yixing area. It started producing celadon ware during the Han and Jin Dynasties, and a kiln site of the Tang Dynasty has been excavated in the area. Today, Yixing ceramics can be divided into five categories, also called the Five Golden Flowers: Zisha, Jing-Tao (white dinner ware), Cai-Tao (multi-colored ceramics), Cave4.jpg" > Jun-Tao (also called Jun glazed ware) and celadon. The purple sand teapots of Yixing might be the most well known in the world.

The purple-brownish highly iron content clay is called "Purple Sand" (Zisha). It is mined in the Huang Long (Yellow Dragon) Mountain at Dingshu Town and is mainly made into the unglazed, palm size, stoneware teapots which became well-known in the world since the Ming dynasty (the late 16th century). Yixing city is well known as the "Pottery Capital" of China and the "Teapot Center of the World".

Yixing also attracts tourists with its famous bamboo forest, tea plantations, purple sand and natural caverns (there are over eighty caves in the mountain area).

Transportation to Yixing
There are no airports or train stations in Yixing. Travelers have to take the bus from Shanghai, Wuxi, or Hangzhou to get to Yixing. But, a new train station and highway connecting Wuxi via Yixing to Hangzhou will be completed soon. Yixing can be divided into two main districts: Yixing City and Dingshu Town. Because most of the ceramic-related factories and stores are located in Dingshu Town, your first choice is to find a hotel in here.

Yixing Ceramics Museum Address: 150 Dingshan Bei Lu, Yixing, Jiangsu Province 214221, P. R. China Tel: 86-510-7401521, 86-510-7421508 Open: 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The Yixing Ceramics Museum is a type of Chinese palace with green roof tiles, wonderfully ancient in appearance. It has, in excess of, 10,000 ceramic pieces in its collection. Some of these pieces were excavated from the local area, and some of these pieces were donated by the artists.

Qian-Shu Dragon Kiln Located three kilometers southeast of Ding-Shu Town, Yixing, Jiangsu Province, the kiln is large, with a length of 45 meters, width of 2.3 meters, height of 1.8 meters, and volume of 80 cubic meters. The Qian-Shu Dragon Kiln is the last dragon kiln left in this area. The kiln was built on a man-made hilltop. There were more than 10 of these remarkable dragon kilns in the area before World War II. Local people believe this kiln dates back approximately 300 years, and it has been repaired and rebuilt many times.

Usually it takes 5,000 kg of dry pinewood and 1,500 kg of coal for each firing, and 38 hours for preheating and firing. The kiln temperature can reach 1,200ºC.

Yixing Purple Sand Village
This village has 48 buildings total in a combination of eastern and western styles. All of them are owned by clay artists' families. In this village, about 90% of the residents' jobs are ceramics related. Usually, the first floor of a building contains clay studios and show rooms, and the second floor is the family living area. Most of these buildings are open to the public and exciting to explore.

Yixing Purple Sand Factories In 1954 the Municipality of Yixing organized the United Craft Studios for the benefit of local craftsmen. Later the name was changed to the Purple Sand Factory Number One. After a few years, the Purple Sand Factories Numbers Two, Three, Four, and Five were founded. Traditional craft techniques were taught. Also, many professors were invited to the factories to teach aesthetics. Many excellent artists study in the Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University (the old name of which was the Central Academy of Arts and Design), the Jingdezhen Ceramics Institute, and the Nanjing Art Institute. These ways of educating craftsmen contribute to preserving ceramic art in Yixing.

Yixing Jun Glaze Garden Pottery Factory
Address: West Jie-fang Road, Dingshu Town, Yixing, Jiangsu Province 214221, P. R. China
Tel: 86-510-7401616, 86-510-7402537
Fax: 86-510-7403006
The Jun Glaze Garden Pottery is an important branch in Chinese ceramic history. As far back as the Song Dynasty, the beauty of Jun ware resides in its glaze colors which include Jun blue, Jun red, Jun copper, Jun white, etc., more than thirty colors in all. Among them, the Jun blue glaze is the most precious, with its special effects like star, halo, and flower. It wins its reputation with the blue halo coming out of gray, as brightly colored as the butterfly flower. In Japan, it is called the trepang glaze. The piling-up technique is used as traditional decoration for Jun pottery. The artist uses only his thumbs to scrub, twist, press, and stroke the colored clay on its base, making an impression of relief sculpture.
The Jun pottery products are primarily used in the garden, such as various tables, benches, flower pots, vases, fish jars, and street lamps (some seven meters high). They also produce a complete set of elegant dragon columns and decoration for Chinese traditional architecture.

Chang-Le-Hong Ceramic Art Company, Ltd.
Address: Tong-shu Road, Dingshu Town, Yixing, Jiangsu Province 214221, P. R. China
Tel: 86-510-7402715
Fax: 86-510-7405676
Mr. Xu Xiu-Tang is a Chinese National Master of Arts and Crafts, a member of the Chinese Artists Association, and the director of Chang-Le-Hong Ceramic Art Company, Ltd.
Founded in 1994, the Chang-Le-Hong Ceramic Art Company, Ltd. is a Sino-Japan joint venture (in Chinese, Chang means long, Le means happy, Hong means magnificent). The company has gathered many clay artists, and the company's products include figurative sculpture, "purple sand" tea-ware, ceramic statuary, and other decorative art. The company building contains studios, an exhibition room that houses a lot of Mr. Xu's early works and many significant pieces from the Yixing area.

Longqi Ceramics Market
Location: Dingshan Town, Yixing, China
The Longqi Ceramics Market is located across the street from the Yixing Ceramics Museum. It is one of the largest ceramics markets in this locale. In this market many stores sell all kinds of reasonably priced ceramic products. Tea ware, dinner ware, flower vases and decorative items are only a few examples of what made in this area and surrounding provinces.


The Ceramic Art Branch, Jiangsu Arts and Crafts Association, PR China
Jie-fang Lu -west, Dingshu Town, Yixing
Jiangsu Province, China, #214221
Tel. 86-510-740-7765, Fax. 86-510-740-3325
Founded in January 1999, the Ceramic Art Branch of the Jiangsu Arts and Crafts Society is a learned organization for the potters of Yixing City and other places in Jiangsu Province. The organization has 200 members, including six state-level masters and eight province-level masters. The organization publishes the journal "Jiangsu Ceramic Report" (in Chinese only), which was founded in May 2000.


Yixing Ceramics Professional Association, Yixing, China
Jie-fang Lu -west, Dingshu Town, Yixing
Jiangsu Province, China, #214221
Tel. 86-510-740-7765, Fax. 86-510-740-3325
Founded in June 2002, the association is one of the largest Chinese ceramics organizations, with 344 business members in the Yixing area. The mission of the association is: Under the law and regulations, to communicate between government and business, to develop and protect ceramic business' of the Yixing area. Publication: Pottery Capital Newsletter Monthly.

The conference will take place in June 2005. For more information please visit the Yixing 2005 website.

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