Humans of China: "I Was Very Popular With the Girls!"

This article comes from Humans of China (WeChat ID: humans-of-china), which aims to document and tell the stories of the many varied people of this vast country, one individual at a time. This time, Hack interviews a man from Jiangxi.

While I am busy making the bowls my wife is busy painting them. I would say that we are the very last generation that can still make pottery in such traditional ways and most young people haven’t studied these techniques. It’s a shame but nowadays using machines in factories is much quicker and much cheaper. I also think young people, like my children, are not really interested. I started studying this technique at around the age of 12, in 1976, when my dad took me to work at a factory run by the government.

My parents had three sons and at the time the government said that only one son could study pottery. One brother was too old and the other too young so he chose me. My dad started in 1948, he was 15 at the time and although my mum would help him she wasn't professional. My family is not originally from Jingdezhen. When my parents were younger they walked here from another city in Jiangxi which took them two days. They came here looking for work and this is probably the only place in China you can find such traditional ways of crafting pottery. I have only ever done this job and back when I started I was earning 18 yuan a month which was paid by the government as the factory was still government-owned.

Back then, 18 yuan was a lot of money and it could feed my family and more. I was very popular with the girls as they knew that I had a high salary and many of them wanted to marry me. I started learning the basics with my dad and he showed me that I needed to be very patient and that if mistakes were made it's fine and to try again. At first, I did make a lot of mistakes but after some time I became better and better. Although we never got a day off I really liked my job. I would have to wake up early and walk to work. After a few hours, we'd have a lunch break where we could go home to eat, take a nap and then back to work for the afternoon. I still really like my job after all these years and I still work in a government-run institution. Its aim is to preserve tradition and give tourists a chance to see how china was previously made. 

Timing is key and you can't leave anything in the kiln or in water for too long so I still have to concentrate hard. Everything we make is different and unique. Many people visit me, take photos, and have a chat whilst I sit here and work. The things I make can be sold and we sell a bowl like this for 95 yuan each. The money doesn't go directly to me though. These bowls were made yesterday and the process is long but I think the outcome when you see a beautiful handmade and handpainted bowl or vase or plate is amazing, even after all this time.

READ: "I Discovered That One of My Old Classmates Was Sleeping Rough"

Photos: Cameron Hack