The charm of Nixi black pottery lies in its original beauty of dark and thick, simple, concise and vivid, and full of rhythmic sense.

In the history of mankind, almost no other handicraft can be found as closely related to life as pottery. It is so old that it marks the beginning of civilization. It is so universal that the cultures of all the nations of the world start from it without coincidence; It is so young, even in the digital information technology sweep today, its charm is still growing; It is so unique, although it is the test of the earth and fire, but always with a myriad of different features to present the soil and the roots of the local customs and the character of the people who grow in it. If the eyes are the Windows of the soul, then it may be said that Tao is the epitome of a nation and a place's culture.

Nixi Tangdui Village used to be a village on the ancient tea-horse road. It has a long history of pottery making, and the pottery craft has been handed down from generation to generation.

Living under a clear blue sky and leaning against snow-white mountains, the Tibetans of Tangdui Village in Nixi Township of Shangri-La make dark pottery, known as Tibetan earthenware, also known as Tibetan Black pottery, or more commonly known today as Nixi Black pottery.Nixi, a Tibetan township in Shangri-La County, Yunnan Province, is the only way on the ancient Tea and Horse Road in the old days. It has a long history of pottery making. The folk pottery making technology has been passed down from generation to generation for more than 2,000 years. Thirty kilometers away from the county seat of Shangri-La, there is an unremarkable small village -- Tangdui Village, which belongs to Nixi Township of Shangri-La County and used to be the only route of the Tea Horse Ancient Road. Here not only retain the ancient Tibetan folk customs and attractive ancient love dance, but also inherited the folk black pottery production process with a history of more than two thousand years. If Shangri-La Ni-xi Township is famous for black pottery, then Tangdui Village is the representative of Nixi black pottery.

Nixi black pottery enjoys a good reputation in the northwest of Yunnan and the whole Tibet region, and is unique in the art of Chinese black pottery.

Nixi black pottery is elegant and beautiful, and the food it cooks has an authentic earthy taste that modern cookers cannot provide. Now it is well known in the northwest of Yunnan and the whole Tibet area, in China's black pottery art also has an important position .Nixi black pottery is an indispensable part of Tibetan life. There are butter tea pot, charcoal fire pot, hidden eight treasures (a kind of decoration hanging on the wall), pigeon pot and so on. The most commonly used and well-known black pottery pot with the shape of flat round is used to stew the chicken, which is delicious and can be called delicious!

Black pottery, one of the symbols of ancient Chinese civilization, has a history of more than 4,500 years. Black pottery was born in the late Neolithic Age in China, more than 4,000 years ago. It is a masterpiece of the primitive culture in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River. The manufacturing process of Chinese black pottery is more sophisticated, delicate, delicate and unique than that of the original colored pottery. As early as about 2000 years ago, Chinese black pottery has reached the technological level comparable to porcelain. The pure black color of the black pottery is made of the unique carbonized kiln with no glaze and no color.

The production process of Nixi black pottery has not changed much for thousands of years. The raw materials are ground stone powder made from the red clay and white sand unique to the area as well as the weathered sand and stones of Tangman River.

As a symbol of Tibetan culture, black pottery is widely used in Tibetan areas. At present, there are more than 100 varieties of Nixi black pottery products. The first category is the traditional daily utensils passed down from generation to generation and loved by the Tibetan people. The second category is Buddhist affairs, religious articles; The third category is new varieties designed and produced by craftsmen according to modern aesthetic needs and combined with traditional crafts. For two thousand years, Tibetan folk artists have worked tirelessly to polish the black clay works with their hands, inheriting the ancient black pottery culture of the Tibetan nationality.

The craftsmen shall knead the clay ware one by one, polish the walls and edges of the ware, insert white porcelain pieces and carve patterns.

The production techniques of Nisi black pottery have hardly changed for thousands of years. The potters did not use modern technology. Their only tools were a set of homemade wooden tools, a square wooden table, and a few wooden planks. Black pottery is shaped by plate construction method, which is made of clay one by one. Even if it is a round vessel, it does not use an electric wheel. First of all, take the clay mix evenly, with wooden pat into strips placed on the base; Then, according to the required objects by hand to make a rough outline; Finally, the inner and outer walls and edges were polished, white porcelain pieces were inlaid, and painted patterns were engraved on them. After the dry heap burning: with two firewood and discharge as a group, placed the size of the pottery in order on the chassis, and then the wood upright inserted into the gap and the periphery of the firewood stack frame, the middle of the firewood stack frame left air holes; Prepare a pile of saw wood ashes, first pile in the vicinity of the wood pile; At the same time, in a pile of wood, pottery even put a circle around the flammable chestnut branches and leaves, the preparation is completed with shavings fire, lit the woodpile edge, in and outside the fire by burning, in the process of combustion, constantly add apple branches around the woodpile, chestnut branch to help burning, and constantly with a wooden stick poked the fire to breathe freely, to be burning wood burning the pottery is good. Burn time is about 20 minutes.

When the woodpile burned out, he poked the burned pottery with a long stick and quickly buried it on the sawdust piled nearby. Then the pottery turned black with the help of an iron hoe. Burying pottery ware 10 minutes later, with a wooden stick to open the ash pile, and then buried burned pottery one by one turned over, and then continue to bury. In the process of burying pottery, a long wooden stick should be constantly poked into the ash pile to breathe. After burying the pottery for 15 minutes, the pottery buried in the ash pile is picked out one by one, placed on the ground to cool for about 5 minutes, and then quickly dipped in pine leaves with hot yogurt residue water or rice soup water to brush the inner wall of the buried pottery to prevent leakage. The burnt black pottery is still a semi-finished product, which needs to be polished and cleaned before it can be finished.

After drying, fire by the most primitive pile firewood.

The charm of Nixi black pottery lies in its original beauty of dark and thick, simple, concise and vivid, full of rhythmic sense. The original way of production reflects the rough and simple characteristics of the Tibetan national character. The patterns follow the shape of the production, to capture the common images in life in a concise and vivid form, quite meaningful, there are cheerful fish, open mouth chicken, circling and dancing snake, staring round eyes of cattle, kylin and grinning animal face image, there are also exaggerated flowers and plant leaf patterns. These decorative patterns are derived from the meticulous observation of life. The vivid expressions of the animals reveal the personal feelings, and express the Tibetan people's yearning for a happy life and their devotion to Buddhism through the abstract form of aesthetic feeling.

The black and pure black of Nixi black pottery is just like the belief in the hearts of the Tibetan people, and the sky, breath and snow mountains of Shangri-La...Making pottery is like chanting sutras. You pat, beat, cut and whet the clay without distractions, and the utensils gradually take shape in such a quiet process, thus clarifying the relations between heaven and man, ware and utensils, and God and form. Heaping and burning is the final transformation of the clay into pottery. Sawn wood ash is not as misty as the smoke in the kiln, but close to the surface, permeate the billet body, imprint on the heart and the heart, just like inside and outside.

Its form and connotation are rooted in the special geographical environment of Shangri-La and the special folk culture of the Tibetan nation. It is precisely because of the special natural and human conditions that the black pottery of Nixi, as a part of the Chinese ceramic culture, has its outstanding artistic charm. It reflects the specific connotation of Tibetan culture as an organic part of Chinese culture. At the same time, it has never been separated from the existence of daily life implies the original meaning of Tao culture, through the simple practical function to awaken the memory of modern people to the spiritual home, which is probably the strong appeal of it without whitewashing! In addition, the lasting vitality of Nixi black pottery also confirms the value of cultural diversity again. Faced with the linear pursuit of efficiency in modern society, simple and simple handwork is more like an inspiration of life.