Where Jiangsu, Anhui and Zhejiang provinces meet near the shores of Lake Tai (Taihu) lies the county seat of Yixing. The name of Yixing has changed four times in its two thousand-year history. It was known as Jingqi during the Eastern Zhou dynasty, Warring States (Zhanguo) period (481-221 BCE), and it was called Yangxian during the Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE). During the Jin Period (265-429) it acquired the name Yixing, and during the Song dynasty (960-1279) its name was again changed to Yixing (written with two characters different from the first version). Local potters generally use the name Yixing or the more ancient Jingqi in their impressed seals on the wares.

The region has been home to many noted scholars throughout Chinese history, and has had been made famous in Chinese literature, poetry, and art. Writings dating back to ancient times discuss the political and military history of this strategically important area, and it has historically been an economically bountiful area as well. The region on the west bank of Lake Tai is especially rich in natural resources, including bamboo, tea, silk, rice and clay of renowned quality renowned. In the Neolithic period, some five thousand years ago, the rich soil of Jiangsu... read more