Hong Kong, June 26 (U.S.): Step into Yuet Tung China Works, Hong Kong’s last hand-painted porcelain factory, and you’ll find yourself surrounded by stacks of dinnerware, each carefully hand-adorned with vibrant motifs of flowers, fruits and trees. the animals.
Third-generation factory owner Joseph Tsou and his small team are among the few people in Hong Kong who have mastered the traditional technique of painting “guangkai,” or Canton porcelain, the Associated Press reports.
It’s a faded art in this modern city, where there are fewer young people willing to put in the time and effort needed to master the craft or work in the factory full time.
“Hong Kong’s business environment is not suitable for labor-intensive industries,” Tsou said. “Hong Kong’s traditional handicraft industry is gradually declining. It will eventually disappear.”
Guangkai, which hails from the nearby Chinese city of Guangzhou, features a glazing technique in which a painter paints a design on white porcelain and then fills it with color using thin brushes before firing the piece in the kiln.
Tsu’s grandfather established the factory in Kowloon, Hong Kong in 1928. It has stood out over the years, renowned for its fine craftsmanship and custom dinnerware.
The factory is famous for Canton Rose porcelain coated with a dye called “xihong”, which means “western red”. Its components include lead oxide, quartz and gold dust.
“Hong Kong’s export sector was booming from the 1960s to the 1980s, and many famous department stores came to buy products,” Tsou said. “Foreign trade companies will bring us business from the (American) stores.”
The factory sometimes paints family badges on dinnerware for foreign customers.
Chris Patten, the last British governor of Hong Kong before the city returned to China in 1997, visited Yuet Tong’s Chinese business to buy some porcelain before returning to Britain.
Yum Wai-wai, founding president of the Hong Kong Ceramic Research Society, said the factory is an important part of Hong Kong’s history.
“The porcelain factory is breathing at the same speed as Hong Kong’s development,” said Yim. “If it doesn’t exist anymore, it will be an immeasurable loss.”