Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province

Yunnan Province has a history of more than 4,000 years in ceramics and many places in Xishuangbanna Dai Autonomous Prefecture still have traditional skills.

The Dai are fond of pottery and, different from other ethnic groups, pottery-making skills are passed from woman to woman. The main tools are the turning wheel and stone balls that are used to make utensils and construction materials. The major processes include pestling and sifting earth, mixing sand into the earth, installing the tuning wheel, making molds, drying, and firing.

The most outstanding feature of Dai ceramics is handcrafted items on the slow wheel. The ceramics are usually made of earth, sand and stone. Since the end of the 1950s, many famous archaeologists both at home and abroad have studied Dai ceramics, considering them to be representative of China's original ceramics and the key to solving the puzzle of China's Neolithic ceramics.

In modern times, the ceramics have become rare. The art of making Dai ceramics is dying out and needs to be protected.