Yixing Zisha (Purple Clay) Pottery Craftsmanship

"Why Covet Earth's Jewels? Behold the Sacred Mud of Yangxian (Yixing) Stream."

The Yixing Zisha (Purple Clay) Pottery Craftsmanship, a traditional ceramic art form shaped through the slab building method, has flourished for over 600 years since its maturation in the Ming Dynasty. Centered in Dingshu Town, Yixing City, Jiangsu Province, this craft embodies the region's unmistakable cultural identity. Zisha clay — renowned for its fine texture, high iron content, and exceptional plasticity — matures into pieces with understated, earthy hues. Beyond teapots, Zisha clay is also shaped into planters, vases, sculpture, and scholarly studio accouterments.

Fan Weiqun, a National Representative Inheritor of Intangible Cultural Heritage—Yixing Zisha Pottery, is at work.

Through centuries of inheritance, this Intangible Cultural Heritage practice has become deeply interwoven with Chinese tea culture, poetry, calligraphy, and painting, transforming it into something that equally delights the senses and serves practical needs. Zisha teapots, the most celebrated form, crystallize the pinnacle of Chinese ceramic craftsmanship and ideals: unpretentious design, technical virtuosity, harmonious form, and poetic resonance. 

The artworks of Master Fan Weiqun are being showcased at the "Millennia-Old Canal, Charm of Jiangsu" exhibition during the Jiangsu Week

Fan's grandfather, Fan Dasheng, won an international gold medal for Zisha artwork at the 1915 Panama-Pacific Expo and also participated in the 1930 Expo in Belgium.