Qi Chun's characters are polite and heroic. Since the twentieth century, Bing Wenheng, Zhangkeyuan, the main forum all over the five continents, according to incomplete statistics, Qi Chun professors, experts and scholars reached more than 4,300, all over the world and abroad, so there is a "professor county" and "doctor street" reputation.
Recently, there is another good news that in June this year, Qichun produced the first doctor of pottery, which is not only the accumulation of Qichun's two thousand years of cultural heritage, but also the "wonderful kiln change" that has promoted the revival of the kiln capital in recent years.
The thousand-year-old dragon kiln in summer seems to be a flowing picture.
The sunlight shines through the lush branches and leaves of Chongyang wood, sprinkled on the ancient kiln wall, and the mottled light and shadow reveal the traces of time. Under the shade of the tree, Gao Quanjun, the kiln owner with a long beard, is instructing the craftsmen to practice mud and wire rods, and rush to make 200 large vats of 1,000 catties.
Who would have thought that this uncle, who was not confused, had just participated in the doctoral admissions examination of Jingdezhen Ceramic University, stood out in the competition of 256 master's students, and was admitted as a doctoral student in the direction of "ceramic technology and product design" with an excellent score of the fifth in the comprehensive.
Don't love the golden bowl, love the "mud bowl"
Gao Quanjun, who was born in Qichun in 1978, was admitted to Beijing Normal University in 2001 to study literature and aesthetics.
How do you want to live?
In his spare time, Gao Quanjun used all his spare time to deepen the pottery art, and he successively went to Hebei and Jiangxi to visit the local pottery culture and learn skills from his teacher. After learning a little, he registered and established the "Pottery of Music" studio in Tongzhou District, Beijing, and studied pottery with like-minded friends. There have been many foreign envoys in China wives to organize a delegation to "Le Zhi Tao" to experience pottery making and feel the charm of traditional culture......
The fame of the "Joy Pottery" studio is also growing.
"Creativity is one of my favorite things, and it is undoubtedly a good choice to introduce from pottery to a natural way of life."
That's what he said, and that's what he did.
In 2013, in the astonishment of everyone, Gao Quanjun bid farewell to the "promising" high-paying and comfortable position and devoted himself to the pottery industry.
Say goodbye to the capital and return to the "kiln capital"
"Quantitative change will eventually change qualitatively, and I am very intoxicated with the feeling of sudden enlightenment in a moment." Day after day, Gao Quanjun's skills became more and more proficient, and he burned the gas kiln in Beijing for seven or eight years, so that by listening to the sound of the kiln fire, he could judge the temperature and air pressure.
In April 2014, Gao Quanjun returned to his hometown to visit relatives and went to the "Millennium Kiln Capital" tube kiln in his hometown to explore pottery and find the inheritance of ancient methods. After in-depth exchanges with local veteran craftsmen, I was inspired a lot.
Do you want to stay in Beijing to engage in familiar industrial production, or do you return to your hometown to study traditional skills?
For Gao Quanjun, it is undoubtedly another difficult choice!
"Tomorrow's craftsmanship must be better than today!"
After realistic comparison and consideration, in 2017, Gao Quanjun left the capital Beijing and resolutely returned to Guanyao. Aiming at the firewood burning process of the thousand-year-old dragon kiln - Lijia kiln, he invested 300,000 yuan to burn firewood in the dragon kiln three times, adjusted the firing method again and again, and learned more experience. After five years of repeated research and discussion, he formed his own unique and clear ideas.
He believes that what can represent the inheritance of pipe kiln pottery must be the "wood-fired purple gold water flower pottery" inherited by the ancient method. Because firewood burning comes from the ancient method, pay attention to the ever-changing color of the kiln. The purple gold mud is derived from the bottom mud of Chixi Lake, which can withstand high temperature calcination after improvement. The "water splash" technique is unique in the country, emphasizing timing and freehand.
Overcoming difficulties and then "starting"
When I first returned to the tube kiln, the millennium dragon kiln was still silent.
"We must make the legacy come alive!"
Under the leadership of Gao Quanjun, Lijiayao lit matches more and more often. Mainly to burn tea sets and handicrafts, the millennium dragon kiln firewood burning art festival is also held every year, attracting a large number of tourists, the pottery out of the kiln is put on the table, it is snapped up, and the annual output value has been close to 6 million yuan.
However, whether it is the millennium dragon kiln or the pottery industry of the entire tube kiln town, it is increasingly caught in development bottlenecks and constraints.
As a traditional handicraft, although it has a unique charm, it seems to be a little single and backward in the modern market competition, the product design innovation is insufficient, there is no characteristic brand, and the homogeneous competition is not as good as the old opponents.
To some extent, these problems also plagued the kiln owner, forcing him to constantly go out to study, communicate, and discuss.
In May 2023, at the training course for the national intangible cultural heritage inheritor of Jingdezhen handmade porcelain skills, Gao Quanjun was fortunate to meet the instructor Ning Wucheng. Ning Wucheng was invited to come to Longyao and was impressed by his exquisite skills and dedication to pottery. With the help of my teachers, I was finally qualified to take the entrance exam.
To take the exam with young people, Gao Quanjun did not flinch.
While running a kiln factory, he forced himself to make up for his homework. I got up in the morning to memorize English, read foreign ceramic English magazines at noon, and then studied professional courses in the evening, and I lost more than ten pounds......
Hard-working people, the sky does not pay.
He became the only disciple of his favorite doctoral supervisor this year, and he was also the first intangible cultural heritage inheritor doctor to come out of the national intangible cultural heritage training class of Jingdezhen Ceramic University. Although the admission letter has not yet arrived, considering his profound ceramic skills, the college has invited Gao Quanjun to participate in a national research group research project.
Overcoming difficulties and starting again, Gao Quanjun is full of confidence: through docking with colleges and universities, it will open up talent channels for the development of the tube kiln pottery industry; Deepen the process design and endow the tube kiln pottery with iconic content; Strengthen the integration of culture and tourism, and build an international pottery firewood base.