As an important category of traditional Chinese arts, pottery sculpture is a handicraft art with rich forms of expression, and it is also the treasure of traditional Chinese art.Recently, Precious and Fiyin from Nigeria visited Heweigui Pottery Sculpture Workshop to explore the integration of pottery sculpture and Confucian culture. Wang Lingtao, an inheritor of this intangible cultural heritage pottery, is the owner of Heweigui Pottery Sculpture Workshop. Since the beginning of learning to make pottery, he began to study how to combine pottery and Confucian culture. His pottery series the Seventy-two Disciples of Confucius once represented Shandong to go abroad were widely praised.

After introducing the cultural history and basic technology of pottery and porcelain, Wang Lingtao taught the two foreign friends one of the 72 processes of pottery and porcelain making – wheel throwing.

Precious and Fiyin couldn’t wait to follow Mr. Wang to operate the machine of wheel throwing. But after all, it was the first time for them to make pottery. Wang said that pottery making really takes some talent.

Precious and Fiyin showed great interest in the cute version of Confucius statue. Wang took out two unpainted clay figurines and taught them how to color them.

Compared with the wheel throwing technique, the coloring process is much easier for two foreigners. Imitating the finished work, Precious and Fiyin respectively colored the cute version of Confucius in their hands and chose the Chinese characters of“仁” (kindness) and “义” (righteousness) on the clay figurine.

“Through the activity, I know more about the Confucian culture, especially the statue knowledge. The combination of pottery sculpture and Confucian culture is creative and should be vigorously promoted so that more foreigners can feel the charm of Confucian culture,” said Precious.

“Jinan is a city with rich cultural deposits. As an intangible cultural heritage, pottery sculpture not only has exquisite workmanship, but also can convey a kind of special cultural connotation,” said Fiyin, “I find that many cultural and creative products are innovated from Chinese traditional culture. This combination is a great way to increase people's understanding of traditional culture.”