A Century of Stability - The Revival of Zisha is Imminent

With Guo Lanying's song "Praise of Local Products," the "shiny clay pots of Pingding" have spread across the Sanjin region. However, many people do not know that it was in Pingding, known for its shiny clay pots, that exquisite purple clay folk products were produced a century ago, earning the reputation of "Yixing in the south, Pingding in the north."

In the early years of the Republic of China, the provincial governor Yan Xishan vigorously promoted the strategy of saving the country through industry and revitalizing the province. He saw the rich coal and iron resources and purple clay deposits in Pingding and decided to introduce technology from Yixing, Jiangsu, to establish factories for the common people in Pingding. In 1914, three artisans from Yixing, Wu Yungen, Yang Ashi, and Li Baozhen, were invited to Pingding to teach their skills, quickly producing a batch of purple clay products that had both ornamental and practical value, marking the beginning of a new history of purple clay production in Pingding. However, as the situation changed, the prosperity of Pingding's purple clay industry faded into silence for nearly half a century. It wasn't until the 1960s, when the Dayu Ceramic Factory under the county's handicraft association launched a new purple clay project, that artisans from Yixing were invited back to Pingding to teach their skills, allowing the purple clay production process to flourish again in Pingding. But production soon ceased again. In the early days of reform and opening up, a purple clay factory was established in Weichi Village, Pingding County, and Yixing artisans once again connected with Pingding. Due to various reasons, the purple clay products from Pingding experienced several ups and downs but ultimately did not form a significant industry.

In recent years, with the strong advocacy of the county's industrial association and the unremitting efforts of people from all walks of life, the development and revival of the Pingding purple clay industry have been brought up again. Currently, those who are committed to the revival of the Pingding purple clay industry include not only the inheritors of traditional crafts but also a group of industrialists. A number of production enterprises with a certain scale have emerged in the county, including Pingding Yingyu Ceramic Co., Ltd., Pingding Guzhou Kiln Art Co., Ltd., Pingding Shiny Clay Pot Co., Ltd., Pingding Guanyao Sandware Ceramic Art Co., Ltd., Zhang Wenliang Carved Porcelain Culture Co., Ltd., and Pingding Huolang Zhang Sandware Culture Co., Ltd. Zhang Wenliang, a national-level master of arts and crafts who learned from Yixing artisans, has sent his son Zhang Hecheng to study at the Wuxi Vocational and Technical College of Arts and Crafts in Jiangsu. Zhang Baozhu, who studied under Yixing artisans Wu Yaping and Ding Jianfeng in the 1960s, has always been obsessed with purple clay production techniques. Recently, he and his apprentice Zhang Wenze established a purple clay product production enterprise in Weichi Village, Pingding County, where they once operated a purple clay factory. Their Pingding Purple Clay Research and Development Center was also recently established. The county's industrial association has organized relevant personnel to visit Yixing multiple times to learn and observe. The purple clay production enterprises in Yixing are also very interested in Pingding's rich purple clay resources and its technical connections with Yixing, and they have already visited Pingding to seek out the original material sources and conduct sampling, testing, and experimentation.

Currently, the purple clay folk products of Pingding Yingyu Ceramic Co., Ltd. have been put into production and are achieving bulk sales. In September, Zhang Wenliang and his son have also produced new purple clay products. It is foreseeable that a spring of revival for Pingding purple clay is on the way.