Róngchāng

Rongchang lies among the rolling hills of eastern Sichuan, a place long associated with the making of pottery. At Anfu, potters worked local clay into vessels for daily use, firing wares whose fine body and smooth surface became characteristic of the district. Kilns operated through the Yuan and Ming periods, continuing a craft that had already flourished under the Song, when many kilns worked around Anfu.

After the warfare and population losses of the late Ming, migrants came to Sichuan from other provinces. Some made pottery their livelihood, handing the craft down within their families. Their work helped sustain and renew Rongchang's kilns in the early Qing, when the production of everyday jars and other vessels continued to serve the surrounding country.