Archive for November, 2006

The Crisis of Yixings: Depleted Clay Resources, Lost Traditional Skills

By Guang, 28 November, 2006, 2 Comments

I ran across a news from China’s official news Xin Hua. The news clearly pointed out the crisis that the art of Yixings is facing: The sources of clays are becoming depleted, and the traditional craftsmanship is gradually lost.

>> Click to read the original news in Chinese. <<

Here is the translation of the first several paragraphs for you:

” Yixing’s Zi Sha teapots are well-known worldwide. The raw clays to make Zi Sha teapots are mined from Huang Long Mountain area, and is Nature’s ir-reproducible resources.

However, the raw clay of Zi Sha is getting so rare that locals say “inch of clay, inch of gold”. In the past, one ton of raw clay was worth only tens dollars(RMB), but now is increased to 7 or 8 thousands dollars(RMB). The chariman of Yixing Ceramics Business Association, Mr. Shi Jun-Tang, pointed out the current natural Zi Sha clay mines are very rare. And if a proper preservation is not started as soon as possible, the natural recourses will become depleted quickly.

The local Yixing authorities have noticed this problem. Since last year, they stopped issuing any mining license in the Huang Long Mountain area. And they promised no more mining license for the following three years.

No only the natural resources are facing crisis, the traditional Zi Sha craftsmanship are also becoming a lost art. According to the locals, driven purely by business profits, the modern machinery-process, coloring the clay with chemical dyes, and the use of gas-kilns have push the traditional Yixing craftsmanship to the brink of extinction.

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”

So does this news ring any bell for you? I have, not once, mentioned the problems of Yixings in several places/forums. I guess some people may think I was creating the “Wolf is coming” story. Now here is a good reference of the “Wolf”.

Yixings locals are worrying the depleted resources and lost art, and could it be possible that we can be so lucky to find “genuine Yixings” at great online/ebay prices from kind-hearted Chinese vendors?

Guang

The First Issue of “The Art of Tea” Has been Released!

By Guang, 28 November, 2006, No Comment

From the publisher of the prestigious “Pu-erh Teapot Magazine” in Taiwan, the No. 1 issue of English-versioned “The Art of Tea” has been issued!

Hou De will be the first distributor of this exciting new Tea magazine outside the Asian market. First shipment of copies will arrive very soon (scheduled the 2nd week of Dec.2006).

We sincerely hope this magazine, the first-ever step to bridge the professional Asian tea world to the passionate English-speaking tea lovers, become a success.

Contrary to the Chinese-versioned Pu-erh Teapot magazine in which half of the volume are just advertisements, the English “The Art of Tea” will limit the ads section to no more than 20 pages out of a hefty 180-plus-page volume. The goal of this magazine really is to bring worthy information to the readers, instead of an overly-ads platform.

We will make it available immediately when we receive the copies.

Guang : )

The First Issue of “The Art of Tea” Has been Released!

By Guang, 28 November, 2006, No Comment

From the publisher of the prestigious “Pu-erh Teapot Magazine” in Taiwan, the No. 1 issue of English-versioned “The Art of Tea” has been issued!

Hou De will be the first distributor of this exciting new Tea magazine outside the Asian market. First shipment of copies will arrive very soon (scheduled the 2nd week of Dec.2006).

We sincerely hope this magazine, the first-ever step to bridge the professional Asian tea world to the passionate English-speaking tea lovers, become a success.

Contrary to the Chinese-versioned Pu-erh Teapot magazine in which half of the volume are just advertisements, the English “The Art of Tea” will limit the ads section to no more than 20 pages out of a hefty 180-plus-page volume. The goal of this magazine really is to bring worthy information to the readers, instead of an overly-ads platform.

We will make it available immediately when we receive the copies.

Guang : )

The Oolongs in Our Backyard

By Guang, 7 November, 2006, No Comment

Time to harvest my oolongs (chin-shin cultivar) in the backyard! See how lovely and happy they are:

They grow slower than they were in the summer time in Houston. So this harvest I collected only 30g of raw leaves. In the end, I probably will only be able to make 5~7 gram of oolong (Pou Chong). Next year I will plant them into the ground and they will grow quicker.

Guang