Pot Fool: Half a Century of Persistence

Pot Crazy: Half a Century of Persistence

——Remembering Hu Guangrong, an earthen pottery pottery maker in Wushan Village, Sanhe Town, Yingcheng City

Written by Zhang Lingxia

Since ancient times, there have been many strange people in the mountains! There is such a strange man in Wujia Mountain, Hu Guangrong, whose name is known as the "pot crazy".

The clay pottery kiln of Hu Guangrong, the "pot idiot", is located in the "Wushan Village" deep in Wujiashan. There used to be many old kilns that fired pottery here. It is said that the products of Lao Hu's kiln have a history of more than 120 years, ranging from large water tanks, pottery basins, and earthen pots to small teapots, fire bowls, and salt shakers. Every household in Baxiang recognizes the daily necessities, and people from neighboring counties such as Jingshan, Xiaogan, Yunmeng and other counties often come to order.

With the changes of the times, the prosperity of Wushan Village’s earthen pottery products in its heyday has long declined. The craftsmen who made earthen pottery together in the past also followed the tide of migrant work and came out of Wushan Village at the foot of Wujia Mountain. This small mountain village. Nowadays, only the "pot crazy" Lao Hu is left alone and stubbornly sticks to the old craftsmanship of his ancestors. No matter how the wind and clouds change outside the mountain, he keeps the sun and the moon in the pot alone.

1

Wujiashan is located in Sanhe Town, Yingcheng City, Hubei Province, with undulating hills and cliffs covered by pines and cypresses. It was named after the hermits who practiced here during the Warring States Period. There is a small village at the foot of the mountain called Wushan Village. The two major water systems, Fu River and Zhang River, merge in front of the village and pass by each other, making it a rare Feng Shui treasure. The unique geographical environment has formed rich and clean water and soil characteristics. The mountains are rich in clay and are rich in 17 minerals and trace elements, especially selenium, a rare and rare element. Due to the special soil quality and abundant firewood, Wushan Village has always been rich in "kiln goods" and is a famous old kiln entrance.

Hu Guangrong and his earthen kiln are quite like the hermits of the old days. They are hidden in the hills behind Sifen Bay in Wushan Village. In the low-lying part of the hill, there is a piece of uneven mud land with exposed yellow and red sand. That is where Hu Guangrong took the soil. Loess is rich in quartz sand, suitable for making sand hangings and pottery steamers; red soil is rich in iron, suitable for making teapots, earthen pots, etc.

You can see Hu Guangrong's kiln shed through a bush. The kiln shed is not big, about 20 meters long and 2 meters deep. It looks very simple. The earthen walls are made of dregs cut from crushed rice fields, and the beams of miscellaneous trees are within reach. The irregular rafters are covered with a thick layer of straw, which is glued with mud paste and then covered tightly. A row of black tiles, all made by Master Hu himself. To avoid direct sunlight, two extremely small windows were opened on both sides of the kiln shed door. This structure makes the kiln shed warm in winter and cool in summer, ensuring that the kiln blanks are shaped and dried.

The kiln shed is divided into two parts with a slag wall. One side is the operation room and the other side is the small warehouse. The operation room is Hu Guangrong's main workplace, used for panning mud, drawing and drying slabs. On one side of the corner are piles of soil taken from the mountains. The soil is raked, screened, moistened, and then kneaded repeatedly on the workbench on the other side until the soil is fine, smooth and smooth before it can be used for drawing. Making clay is a delicate job. In Hu Guangrong's words, it means sifting the rough mountain soil into fine pieces and kneading it repeatedly into smooth and smooth "girl clay", so that the resulting pottery can be delicate and smooth.

Near the door is a turntable for drawing blanks and a shelf made of two wooden boards. The billet-pulling turntable is made of discarded car tires, and a small motor drives it to rotate at a constant speed. Hu Guangrong was sitting in front of the turntable, wearing a cotton undershirt and his trousers rolled up to his knees. He placed his legs on both sides of the pottery Jun that was rotating at a constant speed, concentrating on making a huge earthen teapot. He placed the kneaded mud ball on the turntable and supported the clay tire with both hands. As the turntable rotated rapidly, the body of the pot miraculously gradually took shape, and the thick mud feet were still rotating on the pottery. I saw him gently supporting the rim of the spout with his left hand, pinching the rim with the thumb of his right hand, and rubbing the outside of the rim with the other four fingers. In an instant, he pulled out a circle of bulging mud tendons from the rim of the spout, and gradually Then slowly tighten the edge of the mouth, take a thin thread and stretch it straight across the bottom of the pot. Then the body of the pot is cut off smoothly. The whole process is completed in one go, and the viewers are all amazed. Then, he attached accessories such as handles and spouts to the pot, and it became a simple and lovely earthen teapot.

The finished semi-finished products are moved to the small warehouse on the other side of the kiln shed, laid flat on the ground, and allowed to dry naturally. Beside the wall of the small warehouse, a row of fired earthen teapots are arranged along the wall to form a "pot wall". The sun shines through the window, and the mottled light and shadow shines on the wall of the pot, showing a simple beauty like an oil painting.

In front of the kiln shed is a large flat field, with two tall stacks of straw standing on the left and right. The kiln is directly opposite the door. It is a traditional "ventilation and fire kiln". The kiln is in the shape of a gyro, with a large bottom and a small top. Put the kiln mouth on the top of the furnace, uncover the linoleum cloth laying on it, and look through it. You can see that a kiln-fired earthen teapot is crowded together in the drum-shaped kiln cavity. After they were discharged and cooled, Master Hu used a long hook to hook them out of the kiln one by one.

For Hu Guangrong, the process of making pottery is not only a handicraft, but also the creation process of each piece of art and the inheritance of traditional folk culture. He has been fond of pottery making since he was a child, and has been fascinated by this "art of clay and fire" from the bottom of his heart. Today, when the traditional pottery industry is gradually declining, the reason why he still persists in firing kilns and making pottery is due to his love for the old craft of clay pottery making. Deep in his memory, there was a breath of pottery fire, which continued to circulate with the passage of time.

II

The old Hu family has been an expert in making pottery since Grandfather Hu Guangrong. It was passed down to Grandpa Hu Guangrong's generation that he traveled around the country and helped people make clay pottery with his excellent pottery skills. Back then, Grandpa took Hu Guangrong and his father from his hometown of Anlu to the Shiban River in Wujiashan, Yingcheng. The unique soil quality of Wujiashan preserved Grandpa Hu's walking footsteps. As the saying goes, you can eat mountains if you rely on mountains, and you can eat water if you rely on water. Grandpa Hu seemed to see the light of the future, so he decided to settle down and open a kiln to make pottery.

In that era of material scarcity, the earthenware products made by the old Hu family, such as pottery jars, pottery urns, pottery basins, pottery pots, pottery bowls, etc., were dozens of large and small. Daily necessities that are indispensable for daily life, every household in the village is indispensable for a few pieces of old Hu's kiln goods. However, it was Hu Guangrong’s father’s generation that the ancestral kiln-burning skills of the old Hu family were truly developed.

In the 1950s and 1960s, China was in a period of economic recovery, and production cooperatives sprouted everywhere. Wujiashan Pottery Factory was established in Wushan Village, and Hu Guangrong's father, who had received the true inheritance from his ancestors, served as the factory director and technical director. He led a group of young people to open kilns, build kiln sheds, and set up kiln factories in the Guandu River area of ​​Wujiashan, and they worked enthusiastically. At its peak, the Wujiashan Pottery Factory had over a hundred workers. Master Hu selected seven young people with quick minds and vision to teach his apprentices. The kiln-firing craftsmanship of the Old Hu family was no longer limited to family traditions. There is more room for development. In order to expand production, the pottery factory was once relocated to Mayan Brigade, Yanghe Town, Yingcheng. Later, due to soil quality, the kiln goods fired were prone to cracking, so it was moved back to Wujiashan, and since then it has taken root in Sifenwan, Wushan Village. Various types of pottery daily necessities were continuously circulated from Wujiashan to Xiaogan, Jingshan, Jingmen and other places.

Hu Guangrong grew up with his father in the kiln factory. Panning mud and firing kilns were his favorite childhood games. The former site of the dragon kiln of Wujiashan Pottery Factory was where Hu Guangrong now built the gyro kiln. not far to the upper left. Dragon kilns are generally built on hillsides with a slope of 10-20 degrees, using bricks and sand and ash to build long tunnels. They are named because their shape resembles a dragon. The advantage of the dragon kiln for firing pottery is that it utilizes the principles of natural hillside construction and the natural rise of flames, so the cost is low and waste heat can be fully utilized. Whenever it was time to leave the kiln, the young Hu Guangrong was particularly excited. Merchants from far and near drove carriages and carried woven baskets to wait near the dragon kiln, lining up to pick up the goods. Seeing the simple-looking teapots, jugs and other kiln products coming out of the kiln one after another, Hu Guangrong felt a sense of satisfaction and joy in his little heart. Each kiln product was like a lantern, lighting up his eyes and his heart.

The sky is unpredictable, and people are prone to misfortune and fortune. Just when Wujiashan Pottery Factory was at its most prosperous, something happened to Hu Guangrong's father. That year, Hu's father was 38 years old. Because the dragon kiln was built on a hillside, every time the kiln was fired, one had to carry firewood up a wooden ladder. That day, when Father Hu was carrying a load of firewood up the wooden ladder, he accidentally fell off the hillside and broke his arm. For a person who relies on his craft for a living, one can imagine what it means to break his arm. Hu Guangrong is the eldest son in the family. His sister is still studying in normal school in Xiaogan, and his younger siblings are still young. When his father was injured, the whole family lost its source of income, and the burden of the whole family suddenly fell on Hu Guangrong, who was in junior high school. Besides dropping out of school to shoulder the burden of life for his father, Hu Guangrong seemed to have no other choice.

Hu Guangrong, who was only 15 years old, entered the kiln factory and learned the craftsmanship of kiln goods from his father.

Because he grew up in a kiln factory, Hu Guangrong quickly mastered the basic skills of pottery making and kiln firing, from digging, raking and moistening the soil to panning, drawing and drying the pottery, to loading the kiln, firing the kiln, After coming out of the kiln, there are 27 processes for a kiln product from the soil to the finished product. Young Hu Guangrong does it methodically and calmly, no less than the senior brothers trained by his father.

The prosperous situation of the kiln factory made many people jealous. The cadres of the production team tried their best to get their relatives and six dependents into the kiln factory. These people did not understand the technology and were unwilling to work. At that time, Hu Guangrong's father was unable to do the work himself due to a weak arm after being injured, and could only serve as a technical guide. And the people who come to Master Lao Hu to be apprentices are all people with backgrounds, and few really want to learn the craft. The rate of finished products coming out of the kiln is getting lower and lower, and the quality of kiln goods is also deteriorating. Seeing that the meager income earned in the kiln factory could not support the entire family's expenses, Hu Guangrong decided to go out to make a living.

With his kiln-burning skills, Hu Guangrong successively burned baking cages (fire bowls) in Songhe, Jingshan, went to the Makou Kiln Factory to make water jars and pickle jars, and then went to Hunan Hunan to make pottery. After working as a steamer for several years, I still couldn't make much money. My family's life became increasingly difficult, and I often couldn't make ends meet. In 1968, Hu Guangrong returned to Sanhe Town, Yingcheng, after several years of wandering. At this time, Hu Guangrong was no longer a young boy learning crafts. After several years of experience, he has matured a lot and his skills have become more refined. Hu Guangrong is a person who is good at research. He combines the skills inherited from his father with the skills learned in outside kilns, and the kiln products he produces are even praised by his father. So, with his father's encouragement, Hu Guangrong returned to his hometown to take over as the person in charge of the old kiln factory, and began his nearly half-century career of firing kilns and making pottery.

Three

The old kiln that was about to shut down was once again lit with fire. As soon as the kiln factory started construction, Hu Guangrong launched a major technological innovation. Traditional pottery making methods are broadly divided into hand making, molding and wheel making. In the early years, pottery production was mainly hand-made. Later, it developed from slow-wheel pottery to fast-wheel pottery, which has gone through a long process. The wheel-making method usually uses a rapidly rotating pottery wheel to shape the blank. According to Hu Guangrong's observation, the green body can be quickly formed when the rotation speed reaches more than 90 cycles per minute. Below this speed, the runner can only be used to trim the green body. In the past, a wooden stick was used to turn a wheel made of tires to make it run quickly. This toggle method is not easy to control the intensity evenly, and is very labor-intensive and consumes the worker's physical strength. Hu Guangrong tried to connect the runner to a small motor and let the motor drive the runner. In this way, the problem of high-speed and uniform speed operation was solved, which greatly improved the efficiency of the casting turntable.

Before opening the kiln, Hu Guangrong followed his father's instructions, lit three incense sticks at the door of the kiln, kowtowed, burned some paper money, and paid homage to the ancestor. Legend has it that the ancestor of this potter was Zhu Yuanzhang. When he was still a young cowherd, he used clay to make a lump to hold water and boil it for drinking. This was probably the prototype of the early "cuzi" method for boiling water. Usually it takes six or seven hours to bake a kiln. When it was time to open the kiln, Hu Guangrong led everyone to open the kiln entrance and took a look. They were dumbfounded! The clay pots they had worked so hard to make for nearly half a month suddenly turned into rubble. This is a strange thing that has never happened before in the kiln factory! Hu Guangrong thought hard and didn't know what the problem was. The old father invited a Feng Shui master to look around, and finally stood on the top of Turtle Back Mountain a few meters away from the dragon kiln. He squinted and said, "It's right here!"

The original name of this mountain is Gechong Mountain. Because its shape is very similar to a turtle, the locals also call it Turtle Back Mountain. The turtle tail faces southeast, the turtle head faces northwest, and the turtle ridge is high. Hu Guangrong built a new kiln on the turtle spine according to the place designated by Mr. Feng Shui, which is the new gyro kiln that is still in use today. On the day when the new kiln was opened, according to the old rules passed down from his ancestors, Hu Guangrong burned some paper money at the wood burning port, the entrance and exit of the kiln, and the top of the kiln, paid homage to the Bodhisattva of Fireworks, paid homage to the ancestor, and said The kiln burner warned a few taboos: first, you are not allowed to wear red clothes in the kiln, otherwise the products fired will turn white instead of red; second, women are not allowed to go to the kiln, otherwise it will be disrespectful to the ancestor; third, You are not allowed to stand on the top of the kiln casually.

After the new kiln was put into production, the once-quiet Wujiashan Pottery Factory started to boil again, with more than 20 foreign workers including mud dredging and mud mixing. Hu Guangrong not only led everyone to fire traditional old kiln products, he also used the experience he learned from outside to conduct experiments, make innovations, and update products. The pottery steamers were not easy to sell, so he made glaze products. This was the first of its kind in the area. Glazing methods are generally divided into dipping glaze, glaze coating and spray glaze.

Hu Guangrong once saw the glaze dipping method at the Makou Kiln Factory, which involves immersing the body in a glaze of suitable thickness and thickness, allowing it to naturally absorb to a certain thickness, and then putting it into the kiln for firing. If you want to make two-color glaze products, use the set firing method, put the small glaze products in a large vat, and only dip the small glazed products in the glaze once, so that the bottom will be the original color. The glaze products such as clay pots fired in this way still have the original original color at the bottom, and the bright glaze color at the top, which is really beautiful. Moreover, the bottom of the original color is also resistant to burning and will not fade due to fire.

When the quality of the product is excellent, sales become the top priority. Because Wujiashan is located in a remote location and the old kiln factory has been out of stock for a long time, buyers have gone to place orders elsewhere, and newly produced kiln goods have been unable to gain sales. Hu Guangrong set out with a bag of dry food on his back. He first came to the pottery sales department on Jiefang Street, Yingcheng District. An accountant named Tao glanced at him and said lightly, "Look elsewhere. Our sales department has its own supply." Merchant. Hu Guangrong was unwilling to give up and squatted near the pottery sales department for several days, finally giving him an opportunity to open a breakthrough.

It was school time that day. As soon as Accountant Tao's little boy came in, he clamored for watermelon. In those days, material was scarce and employees' incomes were low. Accountant Tao was reluctant to part with it, and the girl kept making noises. stop. Upon seeing this, Hu Guangrong bought five large watermelons in one go and sent them to the sales department. Both adults and children burst into laughter. The pottery accountant asked Hu Guangrong to send over his pottery for a look. Since his kiln products were of good quality and innovative (double-color glaze products), the kiln products from Jiefang Street Pottery Sales Department were basically replaced by Wujiashan Kiln. The factory took over everything, and the story of Master Hu opening up the market with five watermelons became a favorite in the village. After that, Hu Guangrong gradually obtained orders and contracts from Xiaogan, Jingshan, Yunmeng and other pottery stores with his enthusiasm and cleverness.

In the early 1980s, with the wave of reform and opening up, Wujiashan Pottery Factory inevitably faced the restructuring of a collective enterprise. Hu Guangrong's brothers each developed a new kiln, one kiln shed per person, and operated small kiln factories individually. The kiln entrance of Wushan Village showed a scene of a hundred flowers blooming. However, the good times did not last long. With the rapid development of science and technology, more and more beautiful and lightweight aluminum products and plastic products have replaced heavy ceramic products. The pottery business became increasingly dull and gradually declined. The kilns in Wushan Village went out one after another. The pottery scene of working around the clock was gone forever. Abandoned kilns and kiln sheds were everywhere on the hillside.

Four

Things have changed, and now only the old kiln on Turtle Mountain is left in Wushan Village, and Hu Guangrong is also the only craftsman in the village currently engaged in kiln-making pottery. Seeing this bleak scene, Hu Guangrong still stubbornly believes that earthenware containers still have the value of continuing to exist because of their natural and non-toxic raw materials.

Hu Guangrong was not discouraged, nor did he follow the outflow to work. He wanted to hold on to his ancestral business and this old craft passed down from his ancestors. Whenever he came into contact with the sticky red mud every day, Hu Guangrong's fingers became particularly flexible and strong, and he felt that his whole body was exhausted. Although people no longer favor those bottles and jars made of earthenware, many people are still accustomed to using earthenware teapots. The earthen pot made of clay has a strong adsorption force. After boiling water is put into the pot, the cooler it is, the clearer and sweeter the tea will be.

Hu Guangrong, who loves to use his brain, thought of the characteristics of modern people who pay attention to health care, and the selenium element rich in Wujiashan soil has anti-cancer, anti-aging, and immune-enhancing effects. Hu Guangrong is determined to use this Make a fuss to create the brand effect of "Se-enriched Pot" and focus on making earthen teapots. The teapots that were originally made were all khaki and lackluster. Hu Guangrong borrowed the glaze method and used a soft cloth to smear iron oxide red on the teapot body, and then put it into the kiln to bake. The fired clay pot was bright in color, smooth to the touch, and glowing with Chu red halo. The wall made a crisp metallic sound, and the improved earthen teapot became more refined. The small pot can only be held in one hand. It is exquisite, exquisite and unique, just like a small handicraft. The big pot is sturdy, round and bulging, and can hold five or six kilograms of tea. The wall of the pot is unimaginably thin, as if it will burst if it contains too much water. However, it is very solid. Unless it is deliberately beaten, it will easily break. It won't break, and there's no chance of it even exploding.

Despite this, Hu Guangrong’s earthen teapot business is still very slow. Fortunately, occasionally some school cafeterias or restaurants will find the only remaining kiln in Wushan Village to customize some earthenware pottery such as stew bowls, earthen pots, and pottery steamers. This way Hu Guangrong's kiln will not shut down due to unsalable products and continue to exist. to date.

Hu Guangrong, now 67 years old, guards the old earthen kiln on Wujia Mountain alone. Every day he takes soil, packs mud, pulls out the slabs, and hangs the slabs to dry. Then he enters and burns the kiln alone. , watch the fire, come out of the kiln. On average, he makes 20 to 30 teapots a day, each selling for 10 yuan. Based on a yield of 85%, even if all are sold, the annual income will be only 10,000 to 20,000 yuan, which can barely support him and his wife's daily life. expenditure.

Moreover, pottery products are seasonal and are not suitable either when it is too cold or too hot. Generally, the peak sales season is in April and the peak production season is in September, so we can only do half a year's work each year. According to folklore, there is a saying that "Before the Dragon Boat Festival, it starts at the fifth watch; after the Mid-Autumn Festival, it is at midnight". That is to say, before the Dragon Boat Festival, the clay pan usually starts at the fifth watch, because to make a day's work, the clay pan needs a person. Many hours. After the Mid-Autumn Festival, the days are short and the nights are long, and it is often midnight when we leave the kiln.

As he gets older, Hu Guangrong often feels exhausted. Occasionally, when the temperature is too high and his body cannot bear to work, he calls his son back to help him burn the kiln. Now, Hu Guangrong's three daughters and one son have all grown up, each with their own lives and ideas. The children think that making pottery is hard work and the income is low, and the social recognition is not high, so they are unwilling to learn pottery making from Master Hu. Hu Guangrong has always been worried about the lack of successors to his old craftsmanship. He often said that the mud in the mountains has spirituality. If you coil it in a plate, you will have the essence of the mountain in your body. He has been inseparable from clay pottery all his life. He only hopes that this craft can be passed down. As long as anyone is willing to learn, he is willing to teach it for free.

Summer has arrived, and it’s time to take a break after burning the kiln goods. Hu Guangrong stood alone on the slope of Wushan Village, watching the chimney of the old kiln gradually drifting into the distance. In the smoke, thinking about the inheritance and future of the old craftsmanship of earthen pottery, this "pot idiot" fell into deep thought again...