Yingge offers more than just pottery
When I first learned that a visit to Yingge, a small town in the southernmost part of Taipei County, was included on our schedule, I wondered how the trip would be, considering that some parts of Indonesia are also famous for their pottery.
After a drive of around one hour from Taipei, our group -- comprising around 30 journalists from South America, Eastern Europe and Asia invited by the Taiwanese government -- arrived in the small town.
The first stop was the Yingge Ceramics Museum. There, we learned the history of Taiwan's ceramic industry from its early days through to the second world war and the modern era.
We also learned how ceramic articles are produced, including entering a replica of a giant charcoal stove.
Then, we visited Jianshanpu Road, better known as Old Pottery Street. The road is closed to vehicles other than bicycles and motorcycles.
Along the road, dozens of shops offer numerous ceramic products in a variety of designs -- from tea sets to lamps and small decorative water fountains.
The items are priced from T$35 (or around US$10.40) for a single small tea cup to thousands of dollars for bigger decorative pottery works.
The name Yingge means parrot. It was apparently given to the town after the landmark parrot-shaped rock that is perched on the lower slopes of a mountain on the town's northern outskirts.
People first began to manufacture pottery in Yingge in 1804, and a century ago the ceramics industry was flourishing there due to the suitability of the local clay and the convenience of rail and (formerly) river transportation.
Countless craftsmen and artists have worked to improve their techniques, including clay selection, forming, glazing and firing.
Most people assume that pottery and ceramics are one and the same. But, actually the two are quite different.
Besides using different types of clay, pottery is fired at temperatures under 1,250 Celsius degrees, while ceramics must use the temperature of above 1,260 degrees.
Pottery, also known as earthenware, has been around for about 8,000 years, but ceramics and porcelain only date back about 3,000 years.
In the early years of the industry in Yingge, the products made were mostly for everyday use.
Now the kilns used in firing have advanced from the "primitive" kilns of the Qing Dynasty to modern gas-fired tunnel kilns, and more articles are produced not for practical use but for esthetic purposes.
To help bring Yingge's ceramics industry into line with the international industry, the Yingge Ceramics Festival was held in 2001. The aim of this yearly event is to build Yingge's international reputation as a specialized ceramics industrial zone and create new vistas for this high-end industry as well as for cultural tourism.
In Yingge, several stores offer crash courses for budding potters. Children and teenagers are particularly enthusiastic about making their own tea cups and the like.
Too bad we only had one hour to look around Yingge. Otherwise, I could have attempted one of those courses myself. -- Primastuti Handayani