Traditional pottery making boosts income of villagers in NW Yunnan

In Shangri-la City, northwest Yunnan’s Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, the Nixi Township is famous for its black pottery. In recent years, many pottery artisans have upgraded their family-based workshops and established enterprises. While expanding their business, they hold pottery-making training for local villagers and help them increase income. In the Tangdui Village of Nixi, more than 150 households are now involved in the pottery industry.

Dangzhen Pichu is the seventh inheritor of Nixi black pottery. He learned pottery making skills from his father when he was seven and is now a craftsman with 40 years of experience. “We have lived in Nixi for generations. Black pottery artworks can be used as life utensils and for decorations. They are specialties of Nixi,” said he.

It is complicated to make black pottery, especially in selecting raw materials which are a mix of three types of earth, namely powder of weathered sandstone, white clay and red clay. With exquisite craftsmanship and unusual shapes, each pottery artwork has to go through 12 processes before they can be sold.

In recent years, Tangdui villagers have increased their annual income from several thousand yuan to ten thousand yuan by joining in the development of black pottery. As e-commerce thrives, their handiworks have been sold to other places of the country, even the rest of the world. (Xinhua) 

Editor: John Li