Yunnan Folk Pottery Research

Instead of being an accidental miracle, the invention of pottery is the inevitable outcome of the social development. It is not only the result of the experience accumulation in daily life and practice, but also the result of the improved understanding of the world. It is the creative achievement that has been made when the human civilization developed to a certain phase.The "Primitive Pottery" that this thesis studies does not refer to the pottery in the primitive society. Rather, it refers to the original pottery-making technique with the characteristics of pottery in the primitive society, as contrast to the modern advanced pottery-making techniques. The main features of the "Primitive Pottery" are as follows:it uses clay as its raw material; it is baked in low temperatures (800℃) and is hand-made or made with simple wheel; it mainly uses marking, press, relievo and colored paintings as the means of decoration.This pottery-making technique first appeared in the New Stone Age and has been spread and developed throughout Yunnan Province. Until now, Dai people's pottery-making technique, which is the typical representative of the most primitive pottery-making technique in our country, still preserves many of the features of the primitive pottery. It has been described as the living fossil. The investigation into and the research on Dai people's pottery-making technique serve as the breakthrough of dealing with the pottery-making puzzles in the New Stone Age in the southwest part of our country.The Dai people's ancient pottery-making technique stems from the primitive society. Although it has undergone the different developmental stages of the human society, Dai people's pottery-making technique remains almost unchanged. On October,2005, Dai people's ancient pottery-making technique was picked out on the State-Level Non-Material Cultural Heritage Protection Name List. However, what worries us is that this technique has shown the tendency for decline. In order to protect this culture, we appeal that a way should be found out to enable this primitive pottery-making technique to continue to exist. In this thesis, the distributing of the pottery making in Yunnan Province and the history and actuality are introduced at first. Then, the making technique, the shape, the decoration, the environment of using and the whole characteristics of the pottery making are discussed. In the basis of the discussion, the factors which influence the development of Dai people's pottery making are discussed. It is easy to draw a conclusion that the Dai's pottery making is influenced by their daily lives and other spiritual factors such as sorcery, religion etc. Further more, other nationalities'pottery making techniques also influences Dai's pottery making. In the end, the former discussion about Dai's pottery making enlightened us on the modern pottery making art on the prototype, the decoration and the aesthetic feelings. As a traditional crafts in modern society, it is easy to understand it across-the-board. In the last part of this thesis, the reason and aftereffect of the decline on Dai's pottery making are discussed. In this thesis, the protection and the development of Dai's pottery making are also referred.