Yixing breathes new life into zisha teapots

Purple clay teaware-themed industrial park in Yixing. [Photo provided to wuxi.gov.cn]

Yixing, a county-level city in Wuxi, Jiangsu province, is famous both for its tea leaves and as the hometown of zisha teapots, also known as purple clay teapots.

The purple clay teaware making techniques in the city originated from the Song and Yuan dynasties (960-1368) and became mature in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). In 2006, the making techniques were listed among the first batch of national intangible cultural heritage.

At the Wuxi Vocational Institute of Arts and Technology, Chinese arts and crafts master Xie Qiang, who is also a provincial-level inheritor of Yixing purple clay teaware making techniques, produces zisha teapots using traditional methods.

Purple clay teaware-themed industrial park in Yixing. [Photo provided to wuxi.gov.cn]

Starting in 2008, China saw a craze of purchasing and collecting zisha teapots, driving the continuous increase of the handiworks' price, as Xie was busy creating his "Chinese Civilization" zisha teapots.

"If I just replicate the traditional teapots or make a slight change on them, the pieces I make will still be popular," said Xie. "But in the long run, producing such works without artistic creation is not helpful to the development of purple clay industry."

Therefore, he has learned about the customs and typical cultural symbols of different dynasties in China from the General History of China. Xie has put great effort and thought into integrating traditional Chinese culture into zisha teapots.

Instead of engraving traditional Chinese poems onto his teapots, Xie transforms words into material objects. For example, the moon in frontier fortress poems usually represents soldiers' longing for their hometown and yearning for peace. Therefore, he designed a sword as a decorative ribbon that wraps around the body of the teapot from the side, using red and green clay, among other colors, to create patterns, expressing the meaning of "burying the hatchet".

The craftsman currently has produced over 100 pieces or sets of "Chinese Civilization" zisha teapots with the "Ancient Tea Sets" series creatively highlighting the cultural and artistic styles of different dynasties.