Visit to Fushan and the Shiwan Kilns near Guangzhou (Canton) in 2006
Guangdong area and the city of FushanMaybe it is strange to visit one of the most intensely growing economic areas on the planet in search of history instead of looking at the economic miracles that are happening right now. But somehow history is what we make ourself and somehow all connects. It is also a refreshing difference between what this country is trying to accomplish by building things up as compared to the destructive behavior of many other nations. |
||
Photo: Jan-Erik Nilsson, 2006
|
||
|
The Pearl River Delta today China's economic opening and reform that started under the late Deng Xiaoping in the late 1970s put the Guangdong province in general, and the Pearl River Delta region in particular I belive through its close proximity to the western foothold of Hong Kong, to national prominence. Given the opportunity the region quickly went back to its old openminded roots of brisk international trade. It quickly became a world leader in terms of production, exports and foreign direct investments. The various cities in the Pearl River Delta Region subdivided the economic activities and Guangzhou became a leading center for knowledge-based services, including domestic logistics and distribution. Shenzhen, closest to Hong Kong is the most export-oriented city, a leading transportation and logistics center and also a domestic financial center. Dongguan just in-between the two became the export workshop and is also from where much of the selling to the domestic market is organized. Finally Foshan, Zhongshan and Zhuhai on the Western side of the delta, is mostly light industial manufacturing for the Chinese domestic market and also where we find the Shiwan pottery, today an important ceramic production center. |
||
Photo: Jan-Erik Nilsson, 2006
|
||
|
Canton and Fushan 250 years ago In the 17th of July, 2006 I set off to visit the city of Fushan. To explain my personal interest for the city of Fushan, I need to go back to the period of the Swedish East India Company trading between Sweden and China in the 18th century. In trying to understand the historic importance of this trade, I realized that the businessmen worked mostly outside the city of Guangzhou. Somehow my initial thought on this was, because the foreigners were not allowed inside the city walls. Cities at this time, both in Sweden and China, were surrounded by a big wall and there was a difference between those living within the city walls and outside the city walls, both in China and in Sweden. While the businessmen in Sweden were living very much within the city walls and highly respected in society, the social standing of a businessman in China was quite different. Actually, from a Confucian point of view, a businessman was something of the lowest possible in rank. At least related to this, is why the trade was done outside the city walls. Naturally we need to consider basic economics such as proximity to the river side, but also the price of land inside the safety offered by the city walls. Still facts remained there were space needed that was not readily offered in Canton. |
||
Photo: Jan-Erik Nilsson, 2006
|
||
|
This realization together with the fact that the trade was quite large, with 10, 20 or maybe 30 ships every year trying to find cargo to bring back to Europe, the mere amount of cargo to handle and transport for export only, not to say to store, must have been enormous. Every ship could load about 500 tonnes of commercial cargo; this times 20 would call for the merchants somehow organizing ten, twenty and certainly some years thirty thousand tonnes of cargo to be financed and exported every year. And if you were not welcomed inside the city walls, where could you possibly store all this? The answer, or at least a clue, I found in C. F. Lilejvalch (1848), Chinas Handel: Industry och Statsförfattning. Stockholm. On page 178, he explains:
To be in this same stream or wild torrent of merchandize being transported towards the harbour of Guangzhou once again but 150 years later than observed by the Swede C F Lilejvalch, was a bewildering experience. |
||
After about an hour of driving we reached our destination, the city of Shiwan and one of their many pottery factories.
|
||
The Shiwan Kilns near Guangzhou (Canton) in 2006One of the items made and exported from the Foshan area, of particular interest to me, was earthenware from a nearby village called Shiwan. This is a little known type of pottery, which on and off, has come in my way. I think the reason why this pottery is not more known as it is, is that it has over the years, been called several names, of which some, such as 'Shekwan' or 'Kwangtung', has been traditionally sneered at and considered a low-grade fake Song dynasty looking kind of ware and of no particular value or interest. The next time it appeared to me was when looking through the cargo of the East Indiaman Gotheborg. Among all porcelain shards, there occurred a small number of glazed pottery figures, kind of cute, but of an uncertain origin. It took quite awhile before it dawned on us that it must be Shiwan pottery. So, it was with quite high expectation we started off in the direction of Foshan the 17th of July, 2006. The roads were on and off horrible and could barely be called roads due to extensive road works. In a couple of years no doubt, the development of the infrastructure will be ready and offer a smoother ride to Foshan. It is obvious that Foshans importance as workshop for the export industry is as important as ever and that one are rapidly upgrading the infrastructure. Compared to the fiercely cramped roads, the rivers were almost devoid of ships. |
||
Small figures very similar to this one which is actually a fully functional whistle were found in the cargo of the foundered East Indiaman Gotheborg during the Wästfelt excavation showing one more product beside Jingdezhen porcelain in the cargo, and also that the sailors and officers also brought small souvenir pieces made at the Shiwan pottery near Canton to brinmg home to their near and dear. This small whiste was found at an antiques market in Shanghai in 1993 by Anders Wästfelt, and comes from his private reference collection.
|
||
|
After what I think must have been an hour, we approached the modern Shiwan factory of today. It was the Foshan city Shiwan ceramics number one factory, established in 1956. From what it appeared on approach, it seemed that this might have been one of the few, or the only factory, specializing in modern art and decorative pottery. All around in the area, there were many low lying, aluminium roofed ceramic industries, but from what it appeared from the signs, they specialized mostly in construction ceramics and tiles, such as roof tiles, facade tiles and floor tiles etc, which was different from the Shiwan factory that produced mostly artwork. The left of the two kilns are called The High Kiln while the right kiln is called The Nanfeng Kiln meaning 'the Southern Wind Kiln'. According to the local history both were built in the Ming dynasty and originally identical. They have both been repaired many times over the past hundreds of years but are still very similar in that they are of about the same size and climb up the same small hill. The High Kiln is 32 meters and has 26 rows of stoking holes. The origin of the dragon kiln, which is sited to climb upwards on a hillside, is still shrouded in some mist. It is claimed that this arrangement was adopted already in the Warring States period, but the pre-Han evidence is slight and does not suggest that the principle was yet taken very far. The Warring States (475-221 BC) kiln, which is cited as the earliest evidence, was excavated near to the town of Shaoxing in Zhejiang. It is certainly in this province that the dragon kiln was perfected in the centuries between Han and Tang, and thereafter adopted as standard in the ceramic industry in Zhejiang, Jiangsu and other regions of China until the advent of modern firing and mechanization. This climbing kiln capped in Southeast China the technical primacy, which is traceable from the earliest time. From a general point of view the ceramics industry in China was during the Stone Age predominantly located along the middle course of the Yellow River and along the Wei River into Shaanxi, the trend even in the Bronze Age, and emphatically from Han times, has been towards the remarkable concentration in north Zhejiang. Not until the rise, under the Song dynasty, of Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province, was the primacy of north Zhejiang to be challenged. With the rise of Jingdezhen from the late Song and onwards only kilns with distinctively different products could survive and the Shiwan wares from Guangdong was one of them while Yixing and Dehua (Blanc de Chine) are two other. What we generally call Shiwan or Shekwan pottery (Shek=rock in Cantonese) was made at kilns located in different sites. As far back as the Tang dynasty we know that large jars was referred to as a specialty of potters in Guangzhou. The source of these Tang (618-906) and Song (960-1279) dynasty jars and Japanese tea ceremony tea leaf jars was found in 1978 at a site known as Qishi, nine kilometers up the river from present Shiwan. The ones in Foshan was active from the Song to the Ming dynasty; one in Yangjiang of the Song dynasty; and another in Boluo of the Ming dynasty, The Foshan kiln flourished during the Ming and Qing. Its products are heavily potted with a darkish gray body and thick lustrous glaze. They are good imitations of Jun ware and also known as the Jun ware from Guangdong (guang jun). Since the body is of coarse clay, it is also called the earthy Jun (ni jun), The Jun ware has only one layer of glaze but the guang jun has an additional base glaze. The glazes are blue, rose purple, ink black and kingfisher feather color. In the Qing dynasty, the kiln produced large quantities of architectural ceramics and sculptures of fishermen, wood-cutters, farmers and scholars as well as daily utensils such as bowls, saucer dishes, and jars, and ornaments such as washers, flower pots and archaic vases. From late Ming until the late Qing dynasty the products often bear the signature of the workshop or the potter. As is often the case many later products are just imitations of the older so a close eye needs to be kept on quality as well as style of any individual potter you are looking for. Much of the Jars called Martaban jars were from all probability also made here. These large south Chinese jars were sold through the Burmese port of Maraban (Martaban) from which Chinese pottery and porcelain of all types was exported to all Asia and Africa from the Song through the Ming dynasties. Suggested dates of this type ranges from the 8th to the 18th century, which might be too short a span. In the Ming and the Qing dynasties Shiwan continued to produce the daily wares it was famous for, but their products took a turn to include art. One interesting observation regarding Foshan is that it was generally known as Lingnans City of Art, where Lingnan - south of the ridges - is the larger Guangdong area including all the provinces making up the mostly autonomous region of Southern China until around the 10th century. It had the reputation for satisfying the five senses and ten colors under the heaven. As late as 1959 it was called Foshan - the Famous City of Handicraft. In this Foshan was recognized as a center of Cantonese opera and handicraft where the specialty was to economize with raw materials in producing for the vast export market. In this all kinds of wares was imitated in cheapest possibly way so that fruits, bamboo decoration and gilded tree was imitated in papier-mâché and so on. In an 18th century travel diary from Canton, it was told that someone one day was fooled to buy a smoked ham 'that later was found to have been made of wood'. I figure you got the picture, but you might not have known that Foshan were, where it all came from. The ham might well have been a shop decoration much as we find today, but who knows what the crazy westerners want to buy? Also the colorful glazes that embellishes the Shiwan pottery was sourced from scrap metal oxides from the other Foshan handicrafts and industries. Beside utilitarian wares it was the artistic figural pottery sculptures that brought Shiwan to fame. The best ones were based on keen observation of common men as well as historical figures and figures as represented in the Cantonese opera. The figures came from Chinese history, folklore and philosophy. The portrayal qualities in these figures are so large that it has been suggested that one way of distinguishing earlier figures from those made after 1949 is by medical diagnosis's that for earlier figures show signs of malnutrition and other ailments that were more common in the earlier society. Excavations shows that dragon kilns were used at different periods in Chinese history: in Shangyu in Zhejiang province in the Shang dynasty (1600-1100 BC); in Fusheng in Shaoxing, Zhejiang province, and Zengcheng in Guangdong province, in the Warring States (475-221 BC) period; in Shangyu in Zhejiang, in Eastern Han (25-220) , the Three Kingdoms (220-265) and the Western Jin (265-317) and Eastern Jin (317-420) Periods; in Lishui in Zhejiang province, in the The Southeren Dynasties (386-581) period; in Yixing in Jiangsu province, in the Tang (618-906) dynasty; In Longquan in Zhejiang province, in Chao'an and Xicun in Guangzhou, Guangdong province, and in Jianyang and Dehua in Fujian province, in the Song (960-1279) Dynasty; in Jianshui in Yunnan province, in Rongchang in Sichuan, and in Shiwan in Guangdong province, in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1912) dynasties. Beside these historical locations dragon kilns are still used today in various places to make daily utensils and I guess also architectural pottery like bricks and roof tiles. Regarding the right kiln or the Nanfeng kiln, it was built in the Zhengde period (1606-1521) of the Ming Dynasty. Since then its fire has never gone out and it has unceasingly been kept in production, which is seldom seen. It is the oldest Dragon Kiln in China. The Dragon Kiln type takes its name from its shape, which looks like a huge dragon. The Shiwan people call a pottery kiln Zao. Since its mouth is facing south it is getting the south wind, which is Nan Feng in Chinese, it was called the Nanfeng Kiln or Nanfeng Zao. The length of the Nanfeng kiln is 34.4 meters and is has 29 lines of fire holes. Some improvements to its original design have been made during the years, which I personally think is the addition of an ordinary chimney to its uppermost part. This has not been confirmed but from the looks of things, I think that is a fair guess. It was quite interesting to see how the ceramic production was ongoing in no doubt pretty much the same manner as it must have been for thousands of the years, even though this factory was established in 1956. According to the local legend the pottery that had made the Shiwan area famous, has to a large extent, been made by a small number of pottery families or clans only. And these families, also according to local legend, a long time ago, moved to the area from the Kingdom of Qing "after having made a pottery army with large figures and horses". It is today quite obvious that what the local legend was referring to was nothing less than the terracotta army of Qin Qi Huangdi, the first emperor of China. The time of the migration southwards was as for so many other chinese looking for business and avoiding conflicts around the 10th century. At this time the Song dynasty relocated to the south and found its new southern capital in Nanjing. The move southwards of the financial and intellectual centre of China had a vast impact of the development of southern China and the potters of Shiwan were by far not the only ones to relocate southwards. An interesting thing to speculate about, is what these pottery clans could have been oding in the meantime between the 1st century up until the Ming period when they were firmly established in the Shiwan area. What comes to mind when looking at the characteristic stunning realism we find in both the terracotta army and the pottery figures of today, is a ‘missing link’ feeling regarding the Tang dynasty ceramic sculptures. It’s a very special quality that we find in Tang dynasty pottery that seems to be a little bit too good to be made by somebody else who just happened to be ‘expert potters’. In the production process in this factory, figures were cast in large moulds of plaster of Paris (gypsum) and the finishing touches were then made by expert artists adding details such as hands, fingers, hats and all kinds of sculpture details. The figures were then colourfully painted to give it full form. A speciality for one unique artist was to make the moulds in which the figures could be cast, since the moulds were based on a sculpture and it needed quite some precision for mould-making, only after which the figures could be massed produced. It was quite fun when moving on to the unavoidable factory souvenir outlet to see the happy expressions with Berit and Anders Wästfeldt among the many figures of the shelves, finding the modern equivalent to the figures they had found in the porcelain shards in the Gotheborg II wreck, more or less still available for sale. It was exciting to imagine how these small figures would have been sent by ships down to the porcelain shops of Canton to be sold to enthusiastic merchants of the Swedish East India Company several hundreds of years ago. Finding the old kilns This was an interesting visit but from Simon Ng's visit to Shiwan a number of years ago I knew that there could actually exist an original wood fired kiln around here, still functioning. After a brief conversation between our local guide, the factory staff and our chauffeur I got the information that yes, there are two kilns still preserved and in operation and they were not too far away. Did I want to go there? Well, yes. After a short ride, we arrived at the Ancient Nanfeng Kiln. The area as such was set up today pretty much as a tourist attraction with demonstrations of pottery methods and even pottery art classes for children. But the heart of the area were two quite majestic looking, genuine Ming dynasty Dragon Kilns, both around 30m long and climbing up along a small hill from the southern direction, up towards the north. Taking away the tourist flags that lined the modern stairway, the well manicured greenery, the ticket booth and the inevitable souvenir shop, you could really feel thrown back in time looking at the thin firewood lining the roofs of the kiln with rows upon rows of used clay, unfinished pots and wooden carts. Strewn carelessly around the site were woven grass-slippers (of which I helped myself to stray pair – in the name of research and science – before they switch to Nike and Reebok for shoes when next I’m there) still used by workers to shield their feet when they enter the fire hot kilns. When we arrived, the right most or easterly of the two kilns was just about to be ready to be fired and there was a worker laying toufu shaped, squarish tiles over the warm kilns in order to help them dry before firing. As such, we were fortunate enough to witnessed an ongoing production with the kilns still in use today. Each firing session would take 18 hours, after which it would need to cool for 3 days before starting up a new fire. The woven grass-slippers were used by the workers to unload fired pots when the kilns were still warm. It was also important to work while the kilns were still warm since wet pottery were also loaded into the warm kilns to help them dry before the firing process. According to the workers there, the fire had never been out for 500 years. These were in fact the oldest firewood Dragon Kilns in China. While we never got to witness the actual firing session, the firing session apparently spews fire from many ‘dragon fire eyes’ along the tops of the kilns. One thing that sets this kiln apart from porcelain kilns is that the pottery that is fired is free standing in the kiln, exposed to fire and smoke. Sticks of firewood were then inserted into the ‘fire eyes’ along the dragon kilns to aid the firing process. The kilns were of a type called dragon kilns. Technically they are built like long chimneys upwards along a slope. The type is typical to the south of China and was invented and developed here during the Warring States period (475-221 BC). The earliest ones were only about 6 meters long and a crucial invention for the development of early Chinese stoneware such as the so called ash glazed proto porcelains, since this combined a simple design with the ability to achieve the high temperatures needed. According to Nigel Wood in his Chinese Glazes p. 35 dragon kilns averaged 10 meters by the 1st century AD while by the 13th century some examples was approaching 140 meters. In the longest, hundreds of thousand pieces could be fired at one time. Obviously this was ideal for building materials such as bricks and roof tiles but also for all kinds of utilitarian transport ceramics like jars for food transportation and storage that needed to be produced cheaply and in large quantities. To fire a kiln like this a large amount of wood is initially fired at the lowest end of the chimney or tunnel shaped kiln - the firing box. Then by and by small sticks of wood are inserted through small stoking holes - or firing eyes - along the chimney or the neck of the dragon so to speak to add fuel to the fire and raise the heat further up in the kiln. The kiln type is economical to use since the heat in the firewood is utilized through the full length of the tunnel instead of letting it go up in smoke so to speak. As far as I could understand no protective boxes - saggars - to keep the ceramics inside during firing and protecting them from sand and soot, was used, but the items were exposed directly to the hot flames. Since the hottest area in the kiln are closest to the roof a number of square or round kiln furniture was used to put under larger objects that needed more heat to lift them up to a higher position next to the roof. This would also force more hot air to flow in the lower part of the kiln why these stands were also all fitted with holes to let the hot air flow through. From what the guide told, a firing here would last for 18 hours and then there would be a three-day period during which the kiln would cool down, the potters would unload the fired ceramics and the kiln being loaded again for the next firing. Even the secondary heat outside the kiln was used for both drying stoking firewood and also to give a number of flat tiles a first baking. During my visit some pottery workers were busy placing unbaked square tiles, probably for floors, on top of the kiln near the firing box and on top of the kiln. I can't judge how hot this area on top of the firebox would actually be but it would not surprise me if that would be all these tiles would need. Early Chinese dragon kilns were only about six meters long and were substantially cooler towards their chimney ends. Soon after their development side-stoking ports began to be added to their cooler parts and this allowed fuel to be pushed in amongst the pots themselves, thereby boasting the heat in the upper area, furthest from the main firebox. Soon a firing system was devised whereby the lower part of the kiln was brought to full heat by the main firebox. Stoking then continued through the side ports making the intense heat gradually move up the full length of the kiln. The great advantage was that the air to a large extent had entered the kiln long before the current stoking area and had passed over the glowing pots further down and was much preheated when being fed with side or top stoked firewood along the kiln. With this system dragon kilns could be build to any length. I briefly mentioned that pottery demonstrations were held for visitors and our groups had a chance to participate in one of these viewings. An experienced potter who was beyond 60 in years but who hardly looked 50, he enthralled the group with his pottery techniques, showing us how to throw a pot and how to free it from its potters wheel in one floating move, landing it on the nearby table without effort. He supported the pot with pure will power, for after he removed his hands, attention and presence from it, it immediately collapsed into a lump of wet clay. The feeling from watching his first demonstration is pretty much like balancing an egg without its shell, an impossible feat if one were not half as talented as he. He then demonstrated a press moulding technique and allowed the group to try their hand at it. I of course took the chance to try my hand at moulding and even got to keep my piece of work, as did Berit Wästfeldt. Our tour ended with the souvenir shop visit and a visit to their in-house provision shop where our local tour guide bought all of us red bean filled ice-cream, red beans being a staple in Cantonese desserts. The treat was much appreciated after the long walks through the kiln site. |
||
All text and pictures copyright Jan-Erik Nilsson 2006, GOTHEBORG.COM