Antao Town and Anfu Pottery 安陶小镇与安富陶艺

About Antao Town and Anfu Pottery

Rongchang pottery's history is traced to the Han dynasty two thousand years ago, evidenced by Han-dynasty pottery lamps and figurines held in the Rongchang Pottery Museum; relying on the old post road linking Sichuan and Chongqing, the area rose as a regional pottery centre in the Tang-Song era, and after Qing-dynasty migrants settled here under the 'Huguang tian Sichuan' resettlement, the craft reached its peak, with late-Qing output including mass-produced fine pottery decorated with carving and coloured glaze. The town itself holds Ciyaoli, which the district government describes as the largest Song-dynasty pottery-production site so far found in the Sichuan-Chongqing region and 'a living fossil of ancient folk kilns'. Rongchang pottery, known for being 'red as jujube, thin as paper, ringing like a chime stone, bright as a mirror', is grouped with Yixing purple-clay pottery, Yunnan Jianshui black pottery and Guangxi Qinzhou Nixing pottery as 'China's Four Famous Potteries'; its making technique was listed as national-level intangible cultural heritage in 2011, and Rongchang was given the title 'China's Western Pottery Capital' in 2020.

After the founding of the People's Republic, Rongchang pottery focused on daily-use wares, with the pickle jar becoming its flagship product; in 1956, 29 private pottery factories merged into the state-private Anfu Pottery Factory, the same year the Southwest Fine Arts College, now the Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, opened a ceramic art design programme. Antao Town's construction began in 2013 and was completed in 2017, when it was rated a national AAAA-grade scenic area; its landmark gate is shaped like a giant pickle jar. The town includes Taobao Old Street, the old post road, and named sites such as Pingyun Villa, Chihuang Palace and the Fire God Temple, alongside more than 60 pottery studios where visitors can watch or try the process from clay selection through wheel-throwing to firing, and the Rongchang Pottery Museum, which holds more than 4,000 pottery pieces from the Han dynasty onward.

What to look for

• Ciyaoli, the Song-dynasty kiln site the district government describes as the largest of its kind found in the Sichuan-Chongqing region.
• The Rongchang Pottery Museum, with more than 4,000 pottery pieces from the Han dynasty onward.
• The town's more than 60 pottery studios, where visitors can watch or try the process from clay selection through wheel-throwing to firing.
• Taobao Old Street and the old post road, along with named sites including Pingyun Villa, Chihuang Palace and the Fire God Temple.
• The town's giant pickle-jar-shaped gate, its landmark structure.

Location & getting there

Getting to Antao Town and Anfu Pottery

Identify the main visitor approach and any separately managed houses, museums or performances. Ask before entering residential spaces or photographing residents.

• Search for 安陶小镇与安富陶艺 with 重庆市 and 荣昌区.