11:08, May 04, 2009

Along the No. 214 National Route from Shangri-la to Dechen County, Diqing Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan Province, you can find rows upon rows of Tibetan-style buildings where the black-clay pottery wares are sold.
Villagers in Nyishi Township have been becoming prosperous as such wares enjoy a great popularity among visitors.

"Only the local black earth can be used to make black-clay pottery wares. In ancient times, the Nyishi pottery were well-known along the Ancient Tea Route. Today, as the tourism industry is thriving in Shangri-la, this ancient craft-making technique has been a special skill to enable us to eliminate poverty and become well-off," Villager Xiao Tashi said proudly.
"The Nyishi pottery wares are made by choosing quality raw materials and with fine workmanship. So, they are fine and useful. They are in almost 1,000 shapes such as the jug, teapot, boiler and brazier, and involve all types of household utensils, the Tibetan ethnic handicrafts and religious devices," he added.
The purely handmade black-clay pottery of primitive simplicity in terms of style has developed into a brand product of Shangri-la.
According to villager Dhondup Drolma, also a pottery artisan, there are nearly 100 households engaging in making black earthenware. On roadsides, there are 12 shops for the wholesale of black-clay pottery wares, with a total annual income of one million yuan.
These products with vivid ethnic features have been sold in the rest of the world, like the U.S, Britain and France.

"In recent years, many villagers have bought trucks and built new houses by handling ethnic handicrafts. Some of them even have extended sale outlets to Shangri-la County and Lijiang County in southwest China's Yunnan Province. Many people like to do cooking with the black-clay wares. They believe that food made with such wares is more tasty," Xiao Tashi said.  Source: Xinhuanet