In Guangzhou, the Chaozhou region has a long-standing tradition of Kung Fu Tea, and the Chaozhou hand-pulled red clay Teapot (hereafter referred to as “Chaozhou pot”) has become a representative symbol of Chaozhou culture. Although the Chaozhou pot, closely tied to the lives of the people of Chaozhou, is not struggling for survival compared to most intangible cultural heritages, it still faces the challenge of continuous inheritance and breaking through its limitations.
“Earthenware Jars” Ascending to the Hall of Elegance
Compared to the widely known Yixing purple clay teapots, Chaozhou pots are less famous. In fact, Chaozhou pots are also a type of purple clay teapot. However, there are significant differences in craftsmanship between Chaozhou pots and Yixing purple clay teapots. Unlike the method of manually shaping the body or joining clay pieces used in Yixing purple clay teapots, Chaozhou pots are formed using a hand-pulling technique, which requires a high level of skill from the potter. The potter must complete various shapes by pinching the clay while it rapidly rotates, followed by more than ten complex processes including trimming, attaching the spout, handle, and lid, carving, and firing, all requiring a deep foundation in manual craftsmanship.
As an inheritor of Chaozhou pots and a national-level master of fine arts, Xie Hua is the fifth-generation successor of the “Junhe” Chaozhou pot family. Xie Hua frankly admits that outsiders once referred to Chaozhou pots as “earthenware jars,” implying they were not fit for the hall of elegance, which left him unsatisfied.
To break free from the “earthenware jar” stereotype and improve the quality of Chaozhou pots, one must start with the material. After testing nearly a hundred types of weathered rocks, Xie Hua discovered that those from Qinglong Mountain in Chaozhou could rival the quality of Yixing purple clay. At the same time, Xie Hua has been exploring how to elevate their status and taste in terms of craftsmanship, connotation, and artistic appeal, creating a series of exquisite works. For example, his work “The Soaring Handle Pot” is majestic and fluid in shape, winning a special gold award at the 12th China Arts and Crafts Masters' Fine Art Expo.
The Scarcity of Potters Hinders Continuous Inheritance
Every household in Chaozhou has the custom of drinking Kung Fu tea, so regardless of quality, every home has a Chaozhou pot. However, this does not match the scarcity of potters. Xie Hua explains that due to the traditional practice of passing down skills only to males and not females, there are only about twenty potters. “This poses a significant obstacle to the continuous inheritance of Chaozhou pots. In recent years, we have broken away from convention and started accepting students, and the number of people engaged in pot-making is gradually increasing,” says Xie Hua.
In 1995, Xie Hua established a teapot creation studio, and in 2010, he founded the Hand-Pulled Pottery Research Center for Traditional Characteristics of Ceramic Crafts in Xiangqiao District, Chaozhou. Xie Hua also cooperated with the Guangdong Ceramics School to open a Chaozhou hand-pulled teapot craft class, helping to cultivate entry-level technical talent in pot-making. However, Xie Hua also has concerns that mastering the art of making Chaozhou pots takes at least two to three years, and there are few young people who can endure the solitude required.
To help more people understand and appreciate Chaozhou pots, Xie Hua persists in setting up a stall at the Guangji Bridge temple fair in Chaozhou each year, personally demonstrating his techniques and offering free guidance to tourists on making Chaozhou pots on-site. “This is the only skill in China that uses a rotating potter's wheel as a workstation, where fingers and bamboo strips, small knives, and other tools are used to pinch, rub, and attach clay, transforming it into a beautiful teapot during rotation,” says Xie Hua. “I want everyone to know that Chaozhou can produce excellent teapots.”
The Chaozhou Pot Market Requires Further Development
In the 1980s, a Chaozhou pot made by Xie Hua sold for over 300 yuan, setting a price record in the Chaozhou pot market at the time. Later, Chaozhou pots entered the auction market, and their value as collectibles was recognized. Some of Xie Hua's works fetched high prices at auction. In October 2011, his creation “The Archway Handle Pot” sold for 170,000 yuan at an art auction in Shenzhen. At the Jiade spring auction in 2013, Xie Hua's work “The Renshou Pot” sold for 380,000 yuan, again setting a new record for the single highest transaction price of a Chaozhou pot.
“This indicates that Chaozhou pots are beginning to gain market recognition,” says Xie Hua. However, he also clearly sees that the market for Chaozhou pots needs further development. Compared to Yixing purple clay teapots, Chaozhou hand-pulled pots, located in a remote corner of the country, lack widespread publicity and have always struggled to achieve the same level of fame. Xie Hua believes that Chaozhou pots need to be widely promoted to increase their reputation: “Our Chaozhou potters rarely travel outside and instead quietly focus on refining their craft, but if we don't come out and engage with others, how will people learn about Chaozhou pots?”
In addition to insufficient promotion, another issue is the small number of practitioners in the Chaozhou red clay pot industry. “Ideally, there should be several thousand people involved, which would drive the development of the entire industry,” says Xie Hua. According to him, the traditional mode, where one person handles everything from clay preparation to firing, must be broken. In Xie Hua's view, for this industry to develop, there must be division of labor. Xie Hua states that the Chaozhou pot industry must meet two conditions—having a large number of practitioners and a rich industrial chain—to achieve rapid development.