The Qianshu Dragon Kiln in Yixing. [Photo/Wuxi Daily]

The curtain was raised on the 2023 Dingshu International Wood-fired Pottery Art Festival on April 25 in Dingshu town, Yixing, a county-level city in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province.

The festival also marks the spring opening of the Qianshu Dragon Kiln.

To enable people interested in the thousand-year-old wood-fired pottery making techniques to closely observe each procedure, local broadcaster launched a six-day slow livestream, offering a panoramic view of the ancient techniques.

The Dingshu wood-fired pottery-themed travel route was also unveiled at the festival. Along the route, visitors can learn about pottery culture at the Huanglong Mountain Geopark, admire the making of purple clay teapots at Shushan Gunan Historic and Culture Block, and visit the Qianshu Dragon Kiln.

Since the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Yixing has been an important center for ceramic production in China. Kilns could once be found in Qinglong (Green Dragon) Mountain, Huanglong (Yellow Dragon) Mountain, Shushan, Qianluo and other places.

Over the centuries many of the ancient kilns have been lost, but in Qianshu, a village in Dingshu town of Yixing, a traditional dragon kiln has survived. Several times a year smoke can even be seen rising from the mountain ridge, emanating from that 600-year-old kiln. It stands alone, the sole kiln in Yixing that produces ceramics using the traditional method.