Rediscovering red

Hu Wuqiang, 66, was born into a family of potters that spans back over 1,200 years. At school he became fascinated with a story about ancient Tang Dynasty ceramicists, discovering for the first time in history, a technique to colour their pots red - a myth that was well known in his hometown of Tongguan, Hunan province, but one that had never been proved. Sitting in a stained white t-shirt on a wooden stool in a room filled with drying clay miniature sculptures, Hu begins, "there was a story about a copper red pot but no one knew how to do it. I also knew someone, who had collected supposed copper red pottery but you could not see the red in it."

During his early years Hu had worked in a pottery factory and become increasingly frustrated at the modern mechanical production methods. As China developed into an open market economy, he took a chance, resigned from the factory and set about building a Tang Dynasty Dragon Kiln.

"Our process is very simple because in the Tang Dynasty there were no machines," explains Hu. "All our production is according to this old traditional way with all the materials for the pottery coming locally from Xiang Xiang town. We don't need to do anything special. It's very simple."

In October 1999, a shipwreck discovered off the coast of Indonesia unearthed 70,000 pieces of Tang Dynasty porcelain, 60,000 of which had been produced in one place, Tongguan. The ship had left the port on the Xiangjiang River more than a thousand years ago, en route to deliver its goods to neighbouring countries. The discovery renewed an interest in Tang Dynasty pottery from Tongguan and gave Hu new motivation to solve the mystery of the copper red glaze.

One day searching the site of an ancient kiln, Hu stumbled across the piece he had been looking for since he was a child. A fragment of a jar stained red. "I went back home, checked it very carefully and spent several years working out how to make it. Finally I figured it out!"

The secret lay in a unique combination of the local sand, copper oxidisation, the high and unpredictable temperatures of the dragon kiln and the glaze under which the process takes place. "It's the colour red out of green," Hu smiles.

Hu has continued to research and produce the rare pots, which now fetch as much as 210,000 RMB (US$31,000) in auctions. He plans to write a book to preserve the Tang secret for future generations of Tongguan potters and has taken on several students in his small factory. The work is also gaining a strong reputation in the international art world, though Hu admits the kiln has a mind of its own and he has no influence over the patterns that emerge.

"This dragon kiln you can't control and every pot is very different which makes them so desirable." Hu looks up and grins with a smile that tells of his undoubtable pleasure at having unraveled the ancient craft. "I feel more and more interested in the process as it develops."

Video and text: D J Clark

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About D J Clark

D J Clark has worked worldwide as a multimedia journalist for more than 20 years. In 2009 he completed a PhD at the University of Durham, UK, investigating visual journalism in the developing world. As well as working for China Daily he runs an MA course in Multimedia journalism at Beijing Foreign Studies University and is the Director of Visual Journalism at the Asia Center for Journalism in Manila, Philippines.