Yixing Purple Clay Teapot

Tea, this magical herb beverage from the orient, is now enjoyed all over the world. Today there are many different ways to drink tea, but there is a special type of tea set that is ideal to taste the fragrance of tea. That is the well-known Yixing purple clay teapot. As the name suggests, these teapots are made in Yixing, a city in southern China. This is the only place where you can find Zixia, the material for making the special teapot. It means purple sand, though rather than the sand you might find on a beach, it is actually a type of mineral from deep underground. Here, miners dug up the purple sands from hundreds of metres below ground. It naturally has variable colours, and is called five-coloured earth. After weathering, grinding and other processes, the sediment becomes the purple clay for the potters to use. In the hands of a pottery master, the purple clay comes to life. Pounding the clay is the first step to making a Yixing teapot. The motion might look simple and monotonous, but every strike requires just the right amount of force. An experienced potter could judge the quality of the clay simply from the sound it makes during the process. Three strips of clay form the base, the body and the lid of the teapot. The most challenging part is the body. Flat clay bar is turned into the perfect shape by the hands of the craftsman. This takes a lot of experience. You would never need any adhesives in the making of a Yixing teapot, because the best one is the clay itself when mixed with water. There's an art form unique to these purple clay teapots, and each is usually decorated with Chinese poetry, calligraphy or paintings. Through a master's hands, Yixing teapots can take on infinite forms. Over the past 500 years, there have been countless works of extraordinary artistry. What makes the tea contained in the Yixing purple clay teapot unique? In the firing process of this special clay, tens of thousands of tiny pores are formed in the walls of the vessel, which allow the air to escape but not the water. These pores could maintain the temperature of the water longer while keeping the aroma as well. Even while empty, a well-used teapot can still emit a strong aroma of tea. If you want to keep a good clay pot, it is best to use it to make only one kind of tea. Yixing people love the local black tea, known as Yixing red. The tea gardens here are well cared for, and the tea is only picked once a year in the spring. The small city of Yixing is as pretty as a Chinese painting. With the surrounding hills, rivers and fields, Yixing is perfectly habitable. Su Xi, a famous writer in the Song dynasty, wrote poems about this place. Bought a house here in Yangtze, I will have my retired life wandering in the mountains. The beautiful environment, exquisite craftsmanship and the lasting traditions have together created the culture of Yixing teapot. A Yixing teapot builds connections between mankind and nature. Contained in it is the natural, unadorned and ingenious Chinese aesthetics. With friends and relatives gathered in the picturesque scenery and around a Yixing teapot. What a life it is to soak in the fragrance of nature, slow the paces and find the mind and spirit at ease.