Dongping Kiln Site

Dongping Kiln Site

The Dongping Kiln Site is a cultural relic protection unit of Guangdong Province.

The Dongping Kiln in Huizhou was first fired during the Northern Song Dynasty and was one of the three major folk kilns in Guangdong at that time. As for why the Dongping Kiln experienced over 160 years of rise and decline before eventually ceasing operation, experts believe further research is needed.

The Dongping Kiln in Huizhou was first established during the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127 AD) and was one of the four major folk kilns in Guangdong at that time. The Dongping Peninsula, where the Dongping Kiln is located, has long been known for its reputation of "Nine Dragons, Three Elephants, and Two Ancient Kilns." The two ancient kilns refer to the Dongping Kiln and Yaotou Mountain. During the Northern Song Dynasty, Yaotou Village in Dongping Township was a site for porcelain production. According to the Huizhou Cultural Relics Chronicle, it consisted of three waste kiln sites filled with porcelain fragments, which naturally formed a hill commonly referred to by locals as "Yaotou Mountain." The hill is 8.4 to 8.8 meters high, covering an area of 600 by 700 meters. The Zhuwu Village Northern Song Dynasty porcelain kiln is located southwest of Yaotou Mountain, in Zhuwu Village, Dongping Township, approximately 3 kilometers from the city center. The kiln site is situated on a small hill to the right of the village entrance, which is 4 meters high, covered with overgrown weeds, and littered with broken porcelain fragments. At the exposed cross-section of the hill, piles of porcelain fragments reach a thickness of 3 meters. Based on unearthed samples, the vessel shapes include porcelain bowls, dishes, and saggars; the glaze colors are celadon and greenish-yellow glaze; the decorative patterns feature carved and incised designs, as well as crackled patterns. The centers and bases of the bowls are inscribed with positive characters such as "eleven" and "twelve," which are numerical symbols indicating the production quotas completed by artisans—this serves as evidence of early industrial activity in Dongping.

Centered around Yaotou Village in Dongping, the site covers a total area of approximately four square kilometers. It includes areas for clay extraction, workshops, drying zones, storage areas, and a dragon kiln. The clay extraction area is located around Longchuan Lake and Xinhu Zi (a large lake formed after clay excavation). The dragon kiln, workshops, and drying fields are situated in the area of the Foreign Trade Warehouse, covering about 60,000 square meters, extending from the lakeside to the foot of the hill where the dragon kiln is located—a vast, very flat expanse. The currently protected "Kiln Site Protection Area," enclosed by walls as a cultural relic site, consists only of the original kiln waste mound area.

Yaotou Village got its name from the kiln activities and the residence of kiln workers. The founding ancestors of the kiln workers, including an ancestral couple surnamed Zhang, are buried in Yaotou Village, and their descendants are divided into nine major lineages. Currently, three of these lineages still reside in Yaotou Village, one lineage has moved to Baitian in Ma'an, and the remaining lineages migrated elsewhere during the mid-Qing Dynasty to seek livelihoods, carrying the remains of the founding matriarch. In the 25th year of the Daoguang reign in the Qing Dynasty, when the nine lineages restored the ancestral tomb, they also placed a meter-high, weathered red sandstone tombstone into it. The tombstone is only partially legible, showing the characters “Zhang Taigong” (Lord Zhang), while the rest of the inscription is no longer identifiable. Yaotou Village flourished greatly during the Ming and Qing dynasties, with relocated families such as those surnamed Cao and Tang settling in. Remnants of one- to two-meter-high rammed earth walls could still be seen on building ruins in the 1960s. These walls were extremely hard, supposedly made by mixing sand, lime, glutinous rice, and sugar water, then compacting the mixture between boards.

Judging by unearthed artifacts, the Dongping Kiln produced a wide variety of items, including bowls, basins, cups, jars, and bottles, mostly practical ceramics. Its main decoration techniques were carving and incising. The carved bowls featured flared mouths, larger body sizes, thin rims, deep bellies, plain inner surfaces, and outer surfaces adorned with fan rib and floral patterns. The carving technique resembles that of the Yaozhou Kiln in Shaanxi. Due to the thinner body walls of the carved bowls from Dongping Kiln, the angled carving was broader and shallower, with smooth and continuous lines flowing naturally. The foot rings were unglazed, relatively thin and tall. The grayish-white body clay was fine and hard, producing a metallic sound when struck. The glaze layer was relatively thin, with the clear and bright celadon exhibiting a slight yellowish tint. The carved flower-mouth bowls were especially exquisite and considered premium ceramic pieces. In later periods, there appeared a type of small bowl with thick glaze applied to both the interior and exterior, devoid of any decorative patterns. The foot rings were short and shallow, the foot walls became thicker, the body clay turned more yellowish and coarser, and the wall thickness increased. The Dongping Kiln employed hand-turned wheel throwing for shaping. The firing technique used single saggar stacking. Kiln pads or rings were utilized. The bowl saggars had a funnel shape, wider at the mouth and narrower at the base, resulting in poorer balance. When seven or eight saggars were stacked for firing, sticking and flattening often occurred.

The Dongping Kiln in Huizhou was first established during the Northern Song Dynasty (960–1127 AD) and was one of the three major folk kilns in Guangdong at that time. The site was discovered in late September 1976. The Dongping Kiln is centered around Yaotou Village in Dongping, Huicheng District, covering a total area of about 4 square kilometers. It includes areas for clay extraction, workshops, drying zones, storage areas, and a dragon kiln. The clay extraction area is located around Longchuan Lake and Xinhu Zi (a large lake formed after clay excavation). The dragon kiln, workshops, and drying fields are situated in the area of the Foreign Trade Warehouse, covering about 60,000 square meters, extending from the lakeside to the foot of the hill where the dragon kiln is located—a vast, very flat expanse. The current Dongping Kiln site, as a protected cultural relic, is enclosed within a “Kiln Site Protection Area” surrounded by walls, which consists only of the original kiln waste mound fill area.

On December 10, 2015, the Dongping Kiln Site was designated as part of the eighth batch of Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units.

Further Reading:

· Eighth Batch of Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relic Protection Units