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FEATURES SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2016 Master potter Wu Yao- cheng brought the YINGGE TOWN eggshell porcelain P8 trimming skills he Artisan P8 learned as a young boy to Taiwan with Yingge Town Artisan is a Editorial monthly photographic and him at the end of the historical exploration of the Editorial Chinese Civil War, artists and potters linked to and he’s still going New Taipei City’s Yingge Town. strong BY PauL COOper STAFF REPORTER Working on 紅 紅 藍 藍 黃 黃 黑 eggshells 黑 Yao-cheng (吳要城), 84, holds ing to Cheng Wen-hung (程文宏), head of father got work and accommodation in a lent technique. up a white porcelain bowl to the Educational Promotion Department local ceramics factory. Wang says that unlike other clays, Wu the window in his studio home of the New Taipei City Yingge Ceram- Wu started helping to produce ceram- porcelain clay has no “bone,” or structure, in Yingge District (鶯歌), New Taipei City. ics Museum, he was a pioneer of these ics at the age of 12. The factory produced making it very difficult to throw. On the inside, it is painted with auspi- techniques when he first arrived in functional wares, but some of the more But achieving the extreme thinness cious symbols; on the outside, there is a Yingge, and is still one of very few, maybe highly skilled workers were also making for eggshell pieces also requires manu- scene of monkeys. Wu didn’t paint it: his the only one, still capable of produc- imitations of sought-after Song, Ming ally trimming the unfired porcelain pieces specialty is making the eggshell porcelain ing eggshell porcelains with traditional and Qing dynasty ceramics, including with steel trimming blades, on a rapidly (薄胎瓷) bodies. Held to the light, you techniques in Taiwan. When he dies, the eggshell porcelains, on commission. He rotating potter’s wheel. This means the can clearly see the symbols through the tradition will probably die with him. would observe them during the day and artisan has to be totally familiar with the thin porcelain, superimposed upon the practice on his own after work. In two exact cross-section, throughout the entire monkey scene. THE OLD COUNTRY years he had mastered the fundamentals piece. Otherwise, he will trim it down to The Taipei Times is at Wu’s home Wu was born in 1932 to a family of pot- of the technique. nothing. Top: Wu Yao-cheng holds up one of his eggshell with ceramic artist Wang Shu-ling (王淑 ters going back at least three generations, “You can’t do that unless you are “He has to know every form inti- porcelain bowls to the window of his studio home in 玲). Wang, who has been working with in Chaozhou (潮州), Guangdong, a city gifted,” says Wang. mately. There is absolutely no room for Yingge District, New Taipei City. ceramics for 20 years, is currently focus- with a tradition of porcelain production error,” Wang says. Above: Wu Yao-cheng speaks in his studio home in THE PROBLEM WITH PORCELAIN ing on ink brush painting on pure white dating back to the Song dynasty. He was a The unfired, trimmed body is Yingge District, New Taipei City. PHOTOS: PAUL COOPER, TAIPEI TIMES porcelain, and regularly commissions Wu boy of 11 when the Japanese invaded his Porcelain is prized for its translucent, extremely fragile, and must be fired with to make the thin hand-thrown porcelains town, Fengxi (楓溪鎮), during the Second sonorous quality, and the pure white that the correct technique, too. his own. she needs for her work. When he retires, Sino-Japanese War. cannot be achieved with the lower-fired “Generally speaking, you have to fire He made a success of producing his she will have to move in a new direction: His family fled to Dapu (大埔), another earthenware or stoneware clays. But things yourself. If you get other people to own wares in a factory, but when it was she knows of no one else in Taiwan with town in the same province, where his every step of the process demands excel- fire them for you, they may well break,” sold after two years he moved operations Wu’s skill set. Wu says. into his house, which of course was not Porcelain clay is fiendishly difficult set up to fire a kiln to 1,300 degrees. He to work with, says Wang, and nowadays ARRIVING IN YINGGE has focused on making eggshell porcelain porcelain bodies are produced using Wu came to Taiwan at the end of World bodies on commission since 1983, and now molds and slip casting, as results are War II with the Chinese Nationalist Party lets other people worry about the success easily replicable and with a much higher (KMT) army. He left the army in 1973 and or failure of the other steps of the process. success rate. She says it is impossible found work with Tsai Hsiao-fang (蔡曉芳), “If they fire it well, then they get to master throwing porcelain — and in now based in Beitou (北投), who has made the money, and if they don’t, then it’s a particular, achieving eggshell porcelain a name for himself producing high-fired problem with their technique,” he shrugs, — in a short time. imitations of ancient Chinese ceramics. before offering, “although I will give them “It’s like mastering the violin or the Tsai took him to the National Palace advice on how to do it.” cello. It’s something that you have to Museum to look at the ancient ceramics Wu is still going strong, and says he work at for eight hours every day for 10 from the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, has no plans to retire. But he cannot go years,” Wang says. and asked him if he could make them. on forever, and when he stops, there is Wu has been doing it for 70 years. Master potter Wu Yao-cheng trims a “I specialized in throwing, working no one to replace him. Will the loss of He mastered the skill as a small child stoneware pot in his studio home in there from 1974 to 1980. I made a lot of this skill have a huge impact on ceramic in China, and has worked in Yingge Yingge District, New Taipei City. porcelain bodies for [Tsai],” Wu says. In art in Yingge? Probably not. But for some since he left the army in 1973. Accord- PHOTO: PAUL COOPER, TAIPEI TIMES 1980, he felt it was time to strike out on — Wang included — it will be a huge loss. A true tiger who was unafraid of jackals Chang Chin-lan broke many gender barriers en route to becoming Taiwan’s first female grand justice at the Constitutional Court, uring an interview with the Los Court. Her main task was to interpret the (KMT) lost the Chinese Civil War, and stating that she believed that women had Angeles Times in 1972, Chang constitution and national laws, but she she retreated to Taiwan with them, con- the ability to not only be “successful both Chin-lan (張金蘭) called out then-US also had the power to provide rulings tinuing her judicial career upon arrival. at home and at work but also govern a presidentD Richard Nixon for not appoint- over impeachment of the president and Lu writes that Chang “would release nation.” ing a woman to the Supreme Court. vice president as well as dissolve a politi- the innocent and reduce the sentenced Despite her confidence, there presum- “I was very happy when I heard Presi- cal party violating the constitution. for those with extenuating circumstances ably were still challenges as one of the dent Nixon was thinking of appointing a Finally, Chang’s career was recognized — but for the unrepentant with solid few women working in the government TAIWAN woman to the Supreme Court,” she said. internationally on Sept. 5, 1973, when evidence of their crimes, she would have at Chang’s level. Former Examination “Then I read in the paper that he did not the US-based World Peace Through Law them executed without hesitation.” Yuan member Jia Fu-ming (賈馥茗) tells appoint a woman and I was disappointed. Center (today’s World Jurist Association) Lu provides the example of a kidnap- Academica Sinica in an oral history IN TIME Maybe next time.” presented her with the Pax Orbis Ex Jure ping case when Chang was still in China interview, “There were only three female “Women judges are generally more Award during its biennial conference in that involved a notorious criminal so appointed officials in those days — us conscientious and hard-working than the Ivory Coast. powerful that no judges dared touch two Examination Yuan members and [male] judges,” Chang added. In addition to her judicial duties, the case. Chang took it on, and despite grand justice Chang Chin-lan. Even SEPT. 5 TO SEPT. 11 Chang, who had been breaking gender Chang was also a tireless educator and repeated threats from the criminal’s though we held high positions and had barriers since she became Taiwan’s first served on a team to research and amend associates, she personally presided over great reputations, we still encountered female presiding judge of an appellate the Criminal Code. She died of cancer in the execution. many frustrations that would not be court at the Taiwan High Court’s Tainan 1976. “They had no idea that even though understood by outsiders.” BY HAN CHEUNG Branch Court in 1948, had already made she was a young woman, she was a true However, Chang told the Los Ange- LITTLE KNOWN MILESTONE STAFF REPORTER it to the Supreme Court in 1956.

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