Zibo ceramic bowl stars on national television

A very special ceramic bowl made in Zibo city – located in East China's Shandong province – was featured nationally on the CCTV Spring Festival Gala Show on Jan 31 night.

Huyue means bouncing tiger in Chinese. The Huyue Spring Bowl is a zodiac cultural and creative product made for CCTV headquarters to celebrate the Year of the Tiger.

Released in Zibo on Dec 30, the design concept was developed by the CCTV headquarters cultural and creative department, the publicity department of the Zibo CPC Municipal Committee and manufacturer Guoguang Ceramics Co Ltd.

The Huyue Spring Bowl is fashioned in a gorgeous red, featuring golden lines on the bowl's rim and bottom, with the outlines of two distinctive tigers on the sides of the body.

The bowl for the Year of Tiger went straight onto the design boards in the wake of the successful unveiling of the Fu'niu Spring Bowl –Fu'niumeans lucky ox – on the 2021 CCTV Spring Festival Gala show, according to Su Tongqiang, chairman of Huaguang Ceramics Co Ltd.

Each bowl undergoes a total of 72 processes such as forming, bisque firing, glazing, the application of decals, painting, baking in the color and other steps.

It was estimated that it would take the factory at least two months to meet the advanced orders for the new bowl, but the staff members did it in six weeks this time.

Dozens of graders and quality inspectors checked and marked every stage of the production process to ensure quality. It is understood that some 40 percent of the bowls that are produced fail to meet the required standard.

As a traditional ceramics manufacturer, Huaguang has gained praise and led the way in creating trendy cultural and creative products in recent years.

Meanwhile, Zibo has also released a raft of policies to upgrade its traditional industries and fuel its new economy.