Hemu Colored Pottery Culture Village

Hemu Colored Pottery Culture Village

Hemu Colored Pottery Culture Village is a national AAA-level tourist attraction.

Hemu Village, located in the central part of Jiangshan City, is 13 kilometers southwest of the city center and under the jurisdiction of Qinghu Town. Qinghu was established as a township in the Tang Dynasty and called Shiwu Du in the Song Dynasty. It served as the last port along the upper reaches of the Qiantang River where large sailing ships could pass through on their way to Fujian, and marked the endpoint for vessels coming from the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. In ancient times, Qinghu Town was lined with masts and sails, bustling with “merchants from all over and goods from every corner”; along the Ancient Xianxia Trail, there was a constant flow of travelers, and “scholars and officials were frequently seen on the road.”

As early as the Neolithic Age, humans had already settled and thrived in this land, overcoming hardships and continuing the legacy for over 4,000 years. The revival of earthenware production during the Qing Dynasty became a traditional industry of Hemu. At its peak, there were more than 100 earthen kilns producing items such as cooking pots, soup jars, clay kettles, chopstick holders, tile tubes, and fire pots, with an annual output of 450,000 pieces. These products were transported via the Ancient Xianxia Trail and waterways to regions including Fujian, Jiangxi, Anhui, Guangdong, Hunan, and Shanghai, gaining widespread fame.

In the 1970s, 11 ancient pottery sites were discovered within a few kilometers of Hemu Village. Collected samples included stamped pottery, black-glazed pottery, sand-tempered pottery, and proto-porcelain. Among them, black-glazed pottery was a particularly distinctive type. Testing by the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, revealed that its chemical composition and firing temperature were consistent with those of proto-porcelain, proving that proto-porcelain evolved from black-glazed pottery and originated 4,000 years ago. This also confirmed that humans had inhabited this land since the Neolithic Age and had contributed to the transition from pottery to porcelain.

With the widespread use of modern household items, the sales of pottery products gradually declined, and the traditional earthen kilns of Hemu lost their former glory. It wasn’t until 2006, when antique-style colored pottery production techniques were introduced, that the traditional ancient pottery village regained new vitality.

In 2008, 15 million yuan was invested in the construction of the Colored Pottery Culture Village. On July 3, Zhao Hongzhu, Secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, visited the Colored Pottery Culture Village. He believed that this initiative not only preserved pottery culture but also found a convergence point for upgrading the colored pottery industry, turning culture into a soft power for rural development. This was considered a bold and meaningful practice and exploration in the construction of new rural areas.

Address: Qinghu Town, Jiangshan City

Phone: 0570-4728008

Transportation: Take the Huangqu-Nan Section of the Beijing-Taipei Expressway and exit at Jianglang Mountain. Turn right onto Provincial Highway 46 to reach the site. Alternatively, depart from downtown Jiangshan, take Jianghe Highway, turn left at the Cement Factory intersection, pass through Qinghu Town, and then take Provincial Highway 46 to arrive.

Opening Hours: 8:00–17:00