Tibetan black pottery: Where Han, Tibetan cultures merge

The black pottery manufacturing process in Nangqen County in Yushu, Qinghai, has spread for many generations over the course of about 4,000 years.

According to an old story, when Princess Wen Cheng passed by Yushu on her way to Tibet in the Tang Dynasty, she taught the pottery manufacturing craft to the local Tibetan people. The pottery-making craft has improved significantly since that time, which has become a way for the Tibetan and Han cultures to integrate.

In the long process of history, the Nangqen black pottery has permeated Tibetan culture and religious life and the Tibetan black pottery evolved during the Ming and Qing Dynasty.

Qiannang black pottery has been declared a national intangible cultural heritage. Bai Maqunjia, a Tibetan black pottery handicraft man, was also named a national intangible cultural heritage inheritor.

The Tibetan black pottery in Nangqen is a significant part of the Tibetan culture and it is highly valuable in the Tibetan culture and art studies. It also has considerable collection value, which has become one of the most popular tourism commodities in Yushu. Many tourists from home and abroad come to acquire these goods.