Fengxi Hand-Thrown Zhuni Teapot Craft

The Fengxi hand-thrown zhuni teapot craft is the traditional Chaozhou pottery technique of forming red-clay (zhuni) teapots by hand on the wheel. In 2014 it was inscribed, as 'pottery-firing technique (Fengxi hand-thrown zhuni teapot craft)', on the fourth batch of national ICH.

Unlike the slab-built zixin teapot, the zhuni pot is thrown in one continuous motion on a foot-driven wheel, then trimmed, fitted with spout and handle, incised and fired; the fine clay yields a light, glowing-red pot, demanding skill, leg-work and patience.

The zhuni pot rose with gongfu tea — 'the pot prospers with the tea' — and is the core vessel of Chaozhou tea culture, inseparable from the gongfu tea ceremony and embodying the Chaozhou aesthetic of 'objects carrying the Way'.

The throwing and making of these pots can be observed in the hand-throwing workshops and ceramic studios of Chaozhou's Fengxi area.