A glimpse of a pottery making village in SW China’s Yunnan

Wanyao village in Linxiang district, Lincang, southwest China’s Yunnan Province, with a nearly 300-year tradition of pottery making, is famed as a provincial “hometown of pottery”. Earthenware in the form of pots, bowls and bottles is popular among local residents due to its fine texture and unique style.

In recent years, craftsmen from the village have not only carried forward but also refined traditional pottery making techniques by drawing on strengths from other localities, offering fresh energy to local earthenware products.

The pottery making industry has evolved into a mainstay of the village’s rural vitalization drive, involving more and more villagers to become pottery makers.

Yang Pizhui, the ninth generation pottery artisan of his family, who has always been committed to the inheritance and innovation of earthenware making skills, is acknowledged as a provincial intangible cultural heritage inheritor.

Under his influence, his five-year-old son grew an interest in “playing with clay”, becoming a little assistant to his father and also the youngest inheritor of earthenware making in the village.

A total of 123 craftsmen from 63 households in Wanyao village are engaged in pottery making, producing around 200,000 pieces of pottery on an annual basis, which yielded an output value of over 6.05 million yuan ($878,186) last year.