Yixing pottery (Nixing pottery)

Nixing pottery

Nixing pottery is a protected geographical indication product.

　　Nixing pottery from Qinzhou, with over 1300 years of history, won a gold medal at the International Exposition held in San Francisco, USA, in 1915, and is ranked among China’s Four Famous Pottery Types. It enjoys a reputation both at home and abroad alongside Yixing purple clay pottery from Jiangsu, Jianshui pottery from Yunnan, and Rongchang pottery from Sichuan. Over the past century, it has participated in multiple international and national exhibitions and competitions, winning more than 40 major awards. Nixing pottery products are exported to over 30 countries and regions including Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, the Americas, as well as Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, and others.

　　　 Nixing pottery

　　Treasured Nixing pottery pieces from various dynasties have been collected by the Great Hall of the People, the National Museum of History, the China Science and Technology Museum, the Military Museum of China, the National Museum of History in Taiwan, the Nanjing Museum of History, the Art Museum of Tsinghua University, and the art and craft museums of twenty provinces and cities such as Guangdong, Beijing, Tianjin, Dalian, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shandong, Jiangxi, Anhui, Inner Mongolia, and Macau. They have also been acquired by museums and art galleries in countries such as the United States, Germany, Singapore, Japan, Italy, France, and Russia. Recently, the Nixing pottery piece “Unity Bowl” was designated as a state gift and presented to the leaders of the ten ASEAN nations.

　　Nixing pottery was anciently known as Yue pottery

　　　　 Nixing pottery

　　In the ninth year of the Republic of China (1921), farmers in Pingshen Village, seventy li east of the city, discovered a large ancient tomb at the foot of a mountain. Inside was a single pottery stele by Ning Daowu, along with a pottery pot. The stele bore an inscription dated to the 20th year of the Kaiyuan era of the Tang Dynasty (733 AD). By the year 2006, it had been 1273 years since its discovery. In the summer of the 28th year of the Republic of China, Lin Shengwu, a scholar from Li River, examined the Ning Daowu pottery stele: “This stele was unearthed in the ninth year of the Republic, in Pingshen Village, seventy li upstream from Qinzhou on the Qinzhou River. Made of pottery clay, it was extremely fragile when first excavated, breaking into ten pieces of various sizes. The villagers divided and kept them arbitrarily, with no one recognizing its dynasty or figures. In the 17th year, while compiling the county annals, I began searching for inscriptions and relics, and only then discovered it was a pottery engraving. Later, by gathering the broken pieces and reading the text from beginning to end, I learned it was a Tang Dynasty engraving—and specifically the epitaph of Ning Daowu, the fifth-generation prefect of Nanyue Commandery (now Qinzhou)... Throughout thousands of years of historical records in our country, there has never been a pottery engraving of over a thousand words, yet this one contains over sixteen hundred... Moreover, Daowu was the first in China to create pottery engravings. Nowadays, people are gradually learning that Qinxian pottery far surpasses Yixing...”.

　　Qinzhou Nixing

　　　　Flourishing during the Xianfeng era of the Qing Dynasty, Hu Laoliu created small clay smoking pipes, which were of superior craftsmanship compared to those from Yixing in Jiangsu. After his passing, Pan Yunxing, You Zuifang, and Zheng Jinsheng emerged in succession, refining their techniques further. Products produced at the time included various small clay smoking utensils, teapots, small flower vases, and stationery. There were over 40 workshops engaged in this production, among which the more renowned ones included “Li Jiayuan,” “Renwozhai,” “Fu Guangyin,” “Mai Xingji,” and “Pan Yunxin.”

　　By the Tongzhi era of the Qing Dynasty, most families engaged in Nixing craftsmanship gathered along Yupaiheng Street south of the city to set up shops, forming what became known as the Nixing Lane, or “Tobacco Pipe Lane.”

　　During the Guangxu era of the Qing Dynasty, Nixing pottery had already become famous across the provinces. After the establishment of the Dao (prefecture-level administrative division) office in Qinzhou, with increased official travel, everyone who left the province would purchase Nixing pottery to take away, spreading its fame everywhere. During the late Qing and early Republican period, it participated in global pottery competitions and won major awards.

　　According to the “Qinxian Annals” published by Taipei, Taiwan, it is recorded: “In the 29th year of the Guangxu era of the Qing Dynasty, Li Xiang came to Qinzhou to serve as an official. The government established a Nixing craftsmanship training institute, and the bottom of its products bore the small square seal ‘Qinzhou Official Kiln.’” The Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Museum houses over twenty pieces of Nixing pottery made during the late Qing and Republican periods, including a uniquely styled white clay patterned vase standing 29.8 cm tall, with the raised seal inscription “Qinzhou Official Kiln” on the base. Based on its body material and craftsmanship, the clay used was extremely fine, and after firing, it was polished to achieve a jade-like effect—this being its main distinguishing feature from pottery produced in other kilns.

　　The history of Nixing pottery

　　　　Researching the history of Nixing pottery, there was no exact name during the mid-Qing Dynasty. By the Xianfeng era, pottery production in Qinzhou flourished, and Nixing clay ware became widely used, hence the name “Nixing.” Nixing pottery products mainly include eight categories: tea sets, stationery, tableware, coffee sets, vases, flower pots, incense burners, and antique-style replicas, as well as a series of electric cookware products, with over 600 varieties. There are large items such as vases reaching two meters in height, and small ones like teacups with diameters of just three centimeters. Among them, various tea sets, vase pen holders, potted plants, and tableware are the most renowned.

　　Qinzhou Nixing pottery, with a long history, is famous both in China and abroad. As early as 1915 at the “Panama–Pacific International Exposition” held in the United States, where China participated in an international competition for the first time in history, Qinzhou Nixing pottery won a gold medal.

　　The artisans of Qinzhou Nixing pottery are renowned worldwide. Since the Qing Dynasty, they have been summoned by Emperor Guangxu, Yuan Shikai, and Duan Qirui. After the founding of New China, Nixing masters were honored to be received by national leaders such as [names omitted]. Poets and renowned calligraphers and painters throughout the dynasties have had a special fondness for Qinzhou Nixing pottery and have written poems in its praise.

　　In the “Regulations on the Protection of Traditional Arts and Crafts” issued by the State Council in 1997, Qinzhou Nixing pottery, together with Guangxi’s “Zhuang Brocade,” was listed as a nationally protected ethnic handicraft. Qinzhou Nixing pottery is considered one of Guangxi’s two treasures.

　　The geographical indication protection area for Nixing pottery includes the current administrative regions of Qinnan District, Qinnan District, Qinzhou Port Economic Development Zone, Sanniangwan Tourism Management Zone, and Lüwu Town in Ling County, all under the jurisdiction of Qinzhou City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.