Yixing Zisha Museum

Yixing Shushan Ancient South Street

Shushan was originally named Dushan. In the sixth year of the Xining era of the Song Dynasty (1073), the scholar Su Dongpo visited Yixing and saw a solitary mountain standing prominently with beautiful scenery. When he asked its name, he was told it was “Dushan.” Su praised, “This mountain resembles Shu (Sichuan),” and later generations, in honor of Su Dongpo, renamed Dushan to Shushan. The Ancient South Street of Shushan is situated at the western foot of Shushan, bordering the Dongpo Academy to the east, the Li River to the west, and connecting to the Shushan Bridge to the north. It has been a hub for the production, manufacturing, and trade of Zisha pottery since the Ming and Qing dynasties, and is among the first group of ancient architectural streets in Jiangsu Province to be placed under protection. A significant portion of the former residences of many renowned ceramic artists from modern times are concentrated on Ancient South Street, which is why it is also hailed as the birthplace of Zisha pottery.

Ancient South Street of Shushan was once a bustling “Zisha pottery street.” The old street featured shops in the front and workshops in the back, selling Zisha teapots, pots, vases, bowls, jars, and more. The phrase “hundreds of jade-like kilns echo, green smoke paints the stream mist everywhere” vividly depicts the lively and busy scene of Zisha production at the time. The shops on Ancient South Street offered a full range of goods. By the time of the Anti-Japanese War, there were nearly 200 various types of shops on Shushan Street. The mountains nearby were home to dragon kiln workshops, while homes had river docks right at their front and back, making it very convenient to load and unload kiln products. The Shushan dragon kilns were built along the mountain, with dozens constructed over time, serving as the main production sites for Yixing’s Zisha pottery, Jun pottery, and other daily-use ceramics from the Ming Dynasty to the Republican era. Archaeological excavations at the Shushan kiln site in 2005 unearthed a large number of Zisha, Jun pottery, and kiln tool samples from the late Ming Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty. The styles of these samples matched those of Zisha products found in the Palace Museum in Beijing, the Royal Museums of Art

The ancient South Street of Shushan stretches over a thousand meters, with a well-preserved section of more than 370 meters currently existing. The street is 2.4 to 3.4 meters wide. The road surface is paved with natural granite slabs, beneath which lies a drainage system. The buildings on both sides of the street are all two-story brick-and-wood structures, most of which were built during the Ming and Qing dynasties. The narrow street, stretching hundreds of meters, along with its deep alleys, stone-paved roads, wooden panel doors, lattice windows, and small shops, fully convey the architectural style of the Ming and Qing building complexes.

The ancient South Street of Shushan was historically the largest distribution hub for Yixing clay teapots and also gathered the highest concentration of Yixing’s clay artisans, producing the greatest number of master potters. Today, many preserved residences, former homes, workshops, as well as guilds of clay artisans, pottery artisan training institutes, and historic shops from modern times retain the cultural space and forms of the Yixing clay industry since the Ming and Qing periods, making it an important historical site for understanding and studying Yixing clay culture.

Scenic area address: At the western foot of Shushan, Dingshu Town, Yixing City, Wuxi, Jiangsu Province

Transportation: Take bus No. 5 within Yixing City and get off at Gaojiaqiao Station, then walk east along Dongpo Road to reach the site.

Dingshu Town: Located in Yixing City, Jiangsu Province, Dingshu Town is situated in the Yangtze River Delta Economic Development Zone, bordering Taihu Lake to the east and the foothills of the Tianmu Mountains to the west. Covering an area of 73 square kilometers with a population of 140,000, it is part of Yixing’s urban area. In 2000, Jiangsu Province designated Yixing as “China’s famous Pottery Capital, an important industrial tourism city in Jiangsu Province, and a comprehensive commercial service city in the border region of Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Anhui.”

Dingshu Town features a harmonious blend of mountains and rivers, beautiful scenery, and a rich cultural heritage. It is an important part of the renowned Yangxian Scenic Area and one of the leisure destinations in the Jiangnan region.

Dingshu Town is famed for its abundant production of pottery... More details about Dingshu Town++