Ethnology of Technology and the Transformation of Chinese Pottery Making

Pottery making is one of the oldest activities in the world. Researchers at the University of Zurich’s Ethnographic Museum visited Jingdezhen, China’s porcelain capital, to study two distinctive attributes, namely turning techniques and working close to the ground. It is the turning process that transforms a thick-walled clay tube into an even, paper-thin porcelain object in the first place. When set into the ground, a potter’s wheel enables the manufacture of large pieces but also facilitates high-volume production of delicate pieces. In their work, the Zurich ethnologists researched not only the final products, but also the posture of the potters, their movements, and their body awareness. In China, potters regard working close to the ground as appropriate and comfortable. The sitting position, the body’s angle, gestures, and movement sequences all reflect the cultural context, and are the means by which a person manifests – in and through their body – their cultural environment and origins with their rich traditional of behaviors and collective knowledge.