Across China: Potter fires up fresh passion for ancient craftsmanship

When is a ceramicist not a ceramicist? Many people who create handmade pottery might prefer the term artist or artisan or perhaps, albeit the more modest among them, master. If you were to ask Li Zhen about his occupation, however, he would say he was nothing more than a simple kiln worker.

While he may be humble about his chosen profession, to his peers in the pottery world Li is known by the much more flattering title of "Craftsman of the Country."

For 24 years Li has been producing Longquan celadon, a type of green-glazed Chinese ceramic that has been made in its namesake city of Longquan for millennia. He was bestowed this favorable accolade this month at the 2016 China Art Industry Expo in Beijing in acknowledgement of his contributions to the traditional craft.

Li had 20 of his celadon pieces on display at the expo.

In a country almost synonymous with mass production, China has chosen to celebrate the exquisite skills of its workers and artists through the craftsmanship awards.

Zhejiang Province is proud of its cyan-glazed Longquan celadon, which while being first produced in the third century trade did not begin to truly thrive until the 12th and 13th century, during the Southern Song Dynasty.

As the ruling families in China were Taoists, the graceful, minimalist style of Longquan celadon chimed with their moral and philosophical beliefs in humility and simplicity.

Longquan celadon experienced another resurgence as an objet d'art in the late 19th century, and many potters flocked to Baoxi, a small town in Longquan and the spiritual home of celadon china. Of the many people to join this pottery throw down was Li's father's great-grandfather, who founded what was to become one of the most renowned Longquan celadon studios in the world.

As a fifth generation celadon potter and the current head of Shenghe Studio, Li is surprisingly pragmatic about his title.

"This award may be in acknowledgement of my work," Li said, "but I want the honor to be an inspiration for kiln workers across the nation -- we should all strive to improve our craft through commitment, experimentation and tradition."

The China Art Industry Expo was not the first time that Li's work has been exhibited.

Li was one of 12 celadon artists selected to show their work at the G20 Hangzhou summit. During September's summit, one of his celadon brush washers, a delicate piece in the style of a lotus leaf, was included in an exhibition at Zhejiang's Xiaoshan Airport.

Installed with a panoramic relievo of the West Lake as a backdrop, Li's work was one of the first things that world leaders saw when they arrived in Hangzhou.

"The most important pursuit of any celadon artist is to celebrate the beauty of nature," Li said, adding that the word lotus is a homophone for harmony in Chinese, so this particular piece symbolizes coexistence.

Longquan celadon has been an important tradable commodity since the height of the Maritime Silk Route, when the delicate ceramic was carried across the high seas and sold to traders in Asia, Europe and Africa. Even to this day, Longquan celadon is greatly admired and part of collection all over the world. Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, for example, has more than 1,350 antique Longquan celadon pieces.

The Longquan celadon technique was included on UNESCOs Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list in 2009, the only ceramic item to ever make the cut.

Li's workshop has just one kiln, measuring 70-centimeter high by 50-centimeter wide, and it can only fire five pieces at a time. With careful planning, Li need only fire up the kiln around four times a month.

For Li, craftsmanship trumps quantity every time. He has even researched and helped revive some almost-forgotten techniques, including a way to temper the azure glaze used by craftsmen at the royal kiln during the Southern Song Dynasty.

According to Mao Zhengcong, former director of Longquan Celadon Factory, there were only six potteries in the city in the 1990s; but now there are more than 600 studios that specialize in celadon.

Li considers himself to be just one of the 10,000 kiln workers currently active in Longquan, but is exceptionally proud to be one of countless potters committed to keeping the craft alive for the past 1,600 years.

"There was a time when Chinese ceramics were once the height of innovation. By continuing to produce ceramics in this way, we are not only celebrating Chinese culture but inspiring the generations to come," Li said, adding that what sets him and his fellow kiln workers apart from many other ceramists is a pursuit for quality.

According to Li, when a museum is planning a ceramics exhibition, it is not considered "complete" without one or two examples of Longquan celadon.

"How can our modern products become collector's items in the future?" This is the pressing question that keeps Li awake at night, and so he has made it his goal as a "kiln worker" to find out. Endi