Yixing Zisha Pottery: Place, Cultural Identity, and the Impacts of Modernity

• Author / Creator

  Wu, Fei

• Yixing, a small town in the southeastern Jiangsu Province of China, has been promoted as the capital of pottery, the world of the karst cave, the ocean of bamboo, as well as the oasis of tea, attracting people’s attention from all over the world. “Zisha”, which literately means purple clay or purple sand, or pottery made up Yixing clay, has become collectible and popular in the contemporary China. Yixing zisha pottery, as an indispensable part of Yixing culture, plays a key role in producing locality and cultural identity as well as promoting the development of Yixing. As a native of Yixing, I have applied my personal experience to my study to provide general background and knowledge on the one hand, and employed anthropological theories in my research on the other hand, trying to develop theories that not only suit this question but also other topics. In my research project, I will focus on the place of Yixing, the cultural identity of Yixing zisha pottery, and modern technologies of travel, communication and production, offering evidence of the development of Yixing zisha culture in contemporary society. Moreover, I will use my parents’ zisha studio as example to explore the influence of modernity on Yixing zisha industry through the change of people’s everyday life.

• Subjects / Keywords

  • Mass Media
  • Tourism
  • Yixing
  • Modernity
  • Zisha pottery
  • Cultural identity

• Graduation date

  Fall 2015

• Type of Item

  Thesis

• Degree

  Master of Arts

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/R32B8VK98

• License

  This thesis is made available by the University of Alberta Libraries with permission of the copyright owner solely for non-commercial purposes. This thesis, or any portion thereof, may not otherwise be copied or reproduced without the written consent of the copyright owner, except to the extent permitted by Canadian copyright law.