Chinanews.com, Nanjing, October 22nd, title: "Pottery" Taiqing rooted in mainland China: It makes no sense to like "mud"

  Zhongxin.com reporter Zhong Sheng

  In Yixing City, Wuxi, known as the "City of Pottery", walking on the street, the sound of slapped purple clay mud is endless, and the air smells of pottery clay.

Today, in this quaint land, a group of Taiwanese youths are pursuing their dreams of life by dealing with the soil of the mainland.

  Lin Canhuang is from Hsinchu, Taiwan. According to him, his father has always been keen on collecting purple clay pots. After cross-strait exchanges were released, he lived in Yixing for a long time and sold Yixing purple clay pots to Taiwan.

Encouraged by his father, in 2008, Lin Canhuang also came to Yixing and worshipped a local pottery master, and became the first Taiwanese disciples in Yixing to learn pottery.

Lin Canhuang is making purple clay teapots.

Photo by Zhong Sheng

  The daily life of "facing the clay with the sky back to the sky" is boring but not boring. Lin Canhuang said: "The brothers and sisters in the same class treat me like brothers and sisters. When I encounter difficulties, everyone will help each other. I'm together." Lin Canhuang also harvested his other half-a Yixing girl who loves to drink Taiwanese milk tea. The couple made pots and sold pots, which complemented each other.

Since 2015, Lin Canhuang has started to help young mainland potters sell purple clay pots to Taiwan through live broadcasts.

"There are already more than 20,000'iron fans' on the platform."

  After the mainland issued the "31 Huitai Articles", the local Yixing area opened up the examination for the title of arts and crafts artist to Taiwan compatriots.

Lin Canhuang went to apply for the exam as soon as possible, and successfully passed the examination of the national assistant arts and crafts artist, becoming the first local Taiwanese to obtain this title.

  Dai Zhekang from Taipei has been drinking tea and playing with his father since he was a child. He bought his first purple clay teapot at the age of 17.

"In Taiwan, I think of Yixing whenever I talk about purple clay pots, so I grew up listening to Yixing's name since I was a kid."

  In 2010, Dai Zhekang's father opened a store in Yixing and came to assist his father's Dai Zhekang to set foot on the mainland for the first time.

Unexpectedly, due to poor health, his father quickly returned to Taiwan after setting up the shop, leaving Dai Zhekang and his younger brother to keep the shop in the mainland.

  When he first arrived in the mainland, Dai Zhekang curiously went around tasting the purple clay pot.

For a long time, being away from home still made him feel lonely.

Fortunately, Dai Zhekang gradually became acquainted with the mainland shopkeepers of the surrounding shops and became good friends with each other.

Taiwanese youths who are rooted in Yixing and dealing with the soil of the mainland.

Photo by Zhong Sheng

  There are more and more friends on the mainland, and Dai Zhekang has also met many young local potters.

The potters concentrated on their work all day long, regardless of sales or market conditions. After knowing that Dai Zhekang was opening a store, mainland friends offered to ask Dai Zhekang to sell on his behalf.

"Originally, I just said I would try to sell it. Before I knew it, there were already 3 cabinets in the store dedicated to displaying friends' works."

  Dai Zhekang said: "In the mainland, what the local people can enjoy, Taiwan compatriots can also enjoy it equally. Not long ago, Wuxi also organized a group of Taiwan compatriots to vaccinate against the new crown, and I was vaccinated smoothly. Living here is really real. Very at ease."

  In 2014, the Yixing Ceramic Museum was listed as a base for cross-strait exchanges.

The museum has hosted a series of forums on the sustainable development of traditional culture across the Taiwan Strait.

During holidays, more and more young people from Taiwan come to the museum to experience traditional pottery skills, using their hands to shape the soil of the mainland into a shape that they longed for.

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