Pingding cooking pots listed as cultural heritage

Pingding cooking pots are almost completed on Aug 7, Pingding county, Shanxi province. [Photo by Wei Biao/Xinhua News Agency]

An artist air-dries completed cooking pots in his workshop in Pingding county, Shanxi province, Aug 7. [Photo by Wei Biao/Xinhua News Agency]

Pingding Shaguo, a type of cooking pot made from clay, is a cultural symbol of Shanxi province. Pingding pots recently made the fourth round of China's "intangible cultural heritage" list.

These pots have a smooth, shiny surface. The materials used to make them resist acid and alkali, last many years, and do not fade. The pots are ranked third among traditional Chinese earthenware, just behind Yixing pottery in Yixing city in Eastern China's Jiangsu province and Guangdong pottery in Southern China's Guangdong province.

The pot has a strict crafting procedure, using only selected local clay from Pingding county. Each step in the process is important, and Pingding craftsmen are very experienced.

A local Zhang family runs the biggest remaining workshop in Pingding county, always incorporating new skills and ingredients into the process. The family was the first to bring glazing techniques to the art of Pingding pottery, and this greatly improved the pots' popularity.