Craftsmen carve out niche with Nixing pottery

A traditional craft maker in Qinzhou, a city in South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, found a clue to boost popularity of its more-than-1,300-year-old workmanship. That is tourism.

Long Shaorong, vice-general manager with Qinzhou Nixing Pottery Arts Co Ltd, bets big on tourism to beef up sales of Nixing pottery, one of the top four potteries in China, which originates from Tang Dynasty.

In Long's company, visitors could look around at pottery workshops and even communicate with workers here to know how Nixing pottery is made, learn the pottery's history at an art museum, make a pottery themselves at DIY experience room, and buy pottery products at a shopping hall.

Long Shaorong, vice-general manager of Qinzhou Nixing Pottery Arts Co Ltd, introduces products from his company in Qinzhou, South China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, on April 17, 2019. [Photo by Tan Xinyu/chinadaily.com.cn]

He told China Daily his company's priority is to attract more people, especially non-locals, to visit and boost sales, as local consumption has limited potential. The company is eyeing more business opportunities based on word-of-mouth among visitors, Long said.

This "one-stop industrial tourism", as Long calls it, has contributed more than 60 percent in total sales since his company started to feel out the market in 2005.

Long witnessed the company transform from a State-owned enterprise to a market-oriented limited company at the turn of century. By streamlining internal bodies and lifting the proportion of employees involved in production while promoting its products via culture and tourism, costs can be cut, according to Long.

Now, he added, the annual production value of the company has reached 10 million yuan ($1.5 million).

An employee works on Nixing pottery at the Qinzhou Nixing Pottery Arts Co Ltd workshop on April 17, 2019. [Photo by Tan Xinyu/chinadaily.com.cn] 

An employee works on Nixing pottery at the Qinzhou Nixing Pottery Arts Co Ltd workshop. [Photo by Tan Xinyu/chinadaily.com.cn] 

A technician paints on Nixing pottery at the Qinzhou Nixing Pottery Arts Co Ltd workshop. [Photo by Shi Ruipeng/chinadaily.com.cn] 

A technician carves Chinese characters on Nixing pottery. [Photo by Shi Ruipeng/chinadaily.com.cn] 

A technician carves Chinese characters on Nixing pottery. [Photo by Shi Ruipeng/chinadaily.com.cn]