Making Li pottery is a traditional skill passed down over thousands of years by the Li people of Hainan. This art dates back all the way to China’s neolithic age, making it a true “living fossil”. Long ago, women living in the remote Wuzhishan Mountain region of Hainan made pottery for their own household needs, as well as to barter for needed items such as rice, showing that these pots had a clear economic value. 

Although making Li pottery is not complicated, it takes a great deal of time and effort, with the entire process from digging the clay out of the ground to firing the finished product requiring over ten steps to complete. As the fires die down, the pots that emerge have the long history of the Li people baked deep inside, and show the spirit and artistic nature of the original inhabitants of the island in every line and curve. 

As one of the most important handicrafts of the Li people, these ancient pottery techniques have been handed down over countless generations. In order to continue this millennia-old tradition, Liu Meizhen, a province-level Li pottery cultural heritage representative, has been digging deeper and deeper into the art over the last decade. Together with several others, she founded the Changjiang Baotu Li Pottery Professional Co-op, where she has worked for years to revitalize the Li pottery industry, stoking the flames to keep the fires of this age-old art burning bright.