Foreigners take a photo at the Shushan Gu'nan ancient street. [Photo/ourjiangsu.com.cn]
Twelve foreigners from countries including the United States, Australia, Ghana, Pakistan, and Malaysia visited Yixing, a county-level city in Wuxi, East China's Jiangsu province, from Aug 18 to 19.
They watched performances including an ensemble of traditional Chinese instruments and a dance themed around Chinese painting at the opening ceremony.
Ravichandar T, an international school teacher from Australia, said at the ceremony it was an honor to visit the city, which is renowned for pottery making. He added that he was looking forward to learning more about local culture and establishing friendships with the locals during the trip.
The foreigners then visited the Shushan Gu'nan ancient street and the Longchi Mountain Bicycle Park in the Zhangzhu Town Yangxian Tea Plantation. The ancient street was a major trading port for Yixing pottery in the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368-1911) and had preserved many ceramics-related buildings and cultural relics. The foreign visitors then sipped tea, watched Beijing Opera, and learned making paper fans at the street.
At the Liyong Boccaro Museum in Dingshu town, the foreigners learned to make flowerpots with boccaro, also known as purple clay, which is one of China's geographical indication products native to Yixing. Deng Jiahui, a Malaysian who teaches at the Wycombe Abbey School Changzhou, said he was amazed to find that the purple clay has three colors – purple, green, and red – and can be blended to create more colors.
Ecuadoran student Jomaira learns to make a pottery pot. [Photo/Jiangsu International Online]
Jomaira, an Ecuadoran student at Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, said the ceramics lesson at the boccaro museum was her favorite part of the trip.
