Abstract
Since the 1950s, many well-known worldwide archaeologists have conducted several investigations on the slow-wheel Dai pottery craftsmanship and believe it represents China’s primitive art. In 2006, Dai pottery was included in the first batch of the national intangible cultural heritage list by the Chinese State Council. As the most vital feature of Dai pottery, the slow-wheel remains the same look as it appeared in the Neolithic Yangshao Culture. It is a crucial pottery tool invented by primitive Dai people after learning kneading pottery by hand. In the past, the slow-wheel Dai pottery craftmanship was only passed down through inheritance within female family members, from mother or mother-in-law to daughter or daughter-in-law. From digging clay of riverbank, preparing the soil, making pottery, firing pottery, to finally selling, they were all done by women. There was no man in the whole pottery-making process at that time, and men were even not allowed to see it when the kiln started firing. They believe that if a man saw it, the pottery will be burnt, leading to the abandonment of all previous efforts. Therefore, it can be seen from these phenomena that the ancestors of the Dai nationality had a natural division of labor according to gender. This study describes the material and the process of slow-wheel Dai pottery. The objectives are (1) to better understand and practice the slow-wheel Dai pottery craft technique; (2) to spread Dai culture.
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
2022 Special Focus—Rethinking the Local: Who, How, Why?
KEYWORDS
Dai Minority, Slow-wheel Pottery, Gender
