Jinxi Workshop

Jinxi Workshop

The bowl-making craft at Jinxi Workshop still preserves the most ancient methods. This grayish-white clay is the raw material we use to make bowls—kaolin. These pools are used to wash the kaolin. After the kaolin is crushed and washed multiple times by the waterwheel, turning into a paste-like consistency, it’s ready for bowl-making. First, these molds are placed in this turntable, coated with porcelain clay. Sit here, and use both your hands and feet to rotate it together. In a short while, a rough bowl shape is formed, which is then dried, trimmed, patterned, colored, glazed, and finally fired in the kiln to produce a finished bowl.

The slowly rotating waterwheel seems to tell us of its long history. It has been here all along, silently crushing the kaolin. The rhythmic thuds remind us of ancient civilization. Also known as a watermill or water turbine, the waterwheel is a power device that rotates using the flow of water. As early as the centuries before Christ, the waterwheel was invented around the same time in both the East and the West. In China, the waterwheel has a long history and was widely used across various regions—from the water towns of the south, to the central plains, and even along rivers and streams in Xinjiang. The “Huanzi Xinlun” by Huan Tan of the Han Dynasty contains records of the water-powered trip hammer, a mechanical device that uses hydraulic power to pound grain. According to Lu Yanlan’s “Essays from South Village”: "Water-powered trip hammers are most common in Fujian and Zhejiang. Any place with fast-flowing mountain streams can accommodate them. Wooden wheels are made, fixed to the shore in the water, and the wheel is set on top. The force of the water spins the wheel day and night without pause. Inside the shed, several trip hammers are lined up, operated by a mechanism that moves the pestles, pounding each mortar in turn, repeating the cycle endlessly without human effort."