Anecdotes about purple clay and famous men
Ancient China is the birthplace of tea, and the Chinese boast an ideal material for making teaware - Yixing purple clay. For hundreds of years, from emperors to celebrities, a number of people have one common ground — they adore tea and purple clay teapots. Here, you can learn about two of these great men. From their stories, you may realize how much purple clay teapots have some to mean in China.
Ancient poet Su Dongpo (1037 - 1101) and his original purple clay teapot
Easily one of them most famous writers in Chinese history is Su Dongpo. He lived 1,000 years ago during the Song dynasty (960-1279), but his work is still popular and resonates with the life of modern-day Chinese.
The funny thing is that Su enjoyed tea and purple clay teapots very much, and he created a well-known pot of his own style called a Dongpo Cross Beam Pot.
Su once lived in Yixing, the only area where purple clay is found, for some time. He used to enjoy tea when doing with his creative work. But what got on his nerves was that the teapots at that time were usually rather small, so he had to keep brewing tea at short intervals. This kept him from concentrating on his work.
So he set out to invent a bigger pot, with a large handle to help him carry it. He took some of the local clay, but time after time failed in making a pot that could match his dream.
Then finally, as the poor poet was still worrying about the pot, a boy attendant came over and invited Su to enjoy a small meal with him. Su's face lit up as soon as he took notice of a lantern in the boy's hand. "Great! I will make a large teapot based on this lantern!" he thought.
After just a few tries, Su perfected the lantern-shaped teapot. But there was a problem: it was heavy and slick, so no one could hold it. Even attaching the standard teapot handle was not enough. After thinking for some time, Su crafted a long, U-shaped handle that hung over the pot and attached to both the front and back. This handle was easy to carry, and gave great leverage when pouring tea out of the large belly of the pot.
After that, Su was constantly using his special big teapot while intently creating his poems. Some say he had even spent more time with the pot than with his own son. At present, there are still a number of master potters trying to emulate Su's original design. They give their imitations a name Dongpo Cross Beam Pot, according to Su's name and the characteristics of his famous pot.
Take a look at the photo of a real Dongpo Cross Beam Pot. It was taken at San Su Temple, the former residence of Su Dongpo, in the southwestern part of Sichuan province.
A famous emperor and purple clay teapots
Qianlong (1711-1799) was one of the most famous emperors of the Qing dynasty. He dominated China for sixty years. Meanwhile, he lived to be 89 years old, making him the Chinese emperor who lived the longest!
One of his secrets to healthiness was enjoying tea every day. Here's one of his comments: "A king is not supposed to live without tea even just for one day." It tells us how important enjoying tea was in his life. He used to travel to all parts of his country dressed as ordinary people, and he savored all kinds of Chinese tea.
As a tea connoisseur, Qianlong also called for Yixing purple clay teapots to match his tea. So he amassed a large collection of first-rank purple clay teapots, as he thought it was very clear that a good purple clay teapot could bring out the original color, scent, and taste of his tea. He boasted their superior quality and functions. He called purple clay teapots 'The best tea ware on earth.'
Qianlong loved purple clay teapots so much, there are pots with his personal seals and calligraphy printed on them in museums across China. His appreciation for these pots spurred business in Yixing, as of course everyone wanted to copy the emperor. As a result, a huge number of pots were made and large strides in the development of Yixing teaware occurred under his rule.