It has long been believed that the earliest Zi Sha masters were a monk in the Jinsha Temple in the Yixing City and his succession Gong Chun in the mid Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). However, a few Zi Sha pottery pieces have been excavated from other archeological sites which can be traced back to as early as the stone age. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279) Zi Sha had been used for the equipment in the daily life. However, before the Ming Dynasty, Zi Sha had not became a popular material for the pottery industry, the Jinsha Monk and Gong Chun were the first two craftsmen who changed Zi Sha making as an artwork. Zi Sha had been widely accepted by the Chinese people after them.

The Jinsha Monk and Gong Chun lived in the Hongzhi and Zhengde Era (1488-1521) of the Ming Dynasty. This was the most stable and prosperous time of the Ming Dynasty. The Jinsha Monk used to work with pottery makers. He tried to get rid of all the impurities from lots of clay, at last he collected some little fine and purplish sticky part, then he made a tea pot with this purified clay. Surprisingly the tea pot was as strong as metal and stone, when he knocked at the pot by his fingers he heard a ring bell-like sound. It was extremely good to reserve tea with this pot. Soon after his skill became famous at the time and he developed a whole set of procedure to purify the clay and make pottery pots. Since the pottery was a little hoarse like very find sands and had a purple color, people called this material Zi Sha (the purple sand) pottery. The Jinsha Monk and Gong Chun both lived in the city of Yixing, where the purple clay is fine and rich. Yixing is also called the capital of Zi Sha.

Later the Jinsha Monk taught his secret to another tea pot maker Gong Chun. Gong Chun was very good at designing tea pots. His tea pots were vivid, simple and elegant. Some of his products were well kept till today. After the Jinsha Monk and Gong Chun, the Zi Sha technique was mature and Zi Sha makers became well-known and respected.

From the Jiajing Era to the Longqing Era (1522-1572) in the Ming Dynasty, there were another four Zi Sha masters after the Jinsha Monk and Gongchun: Dong Han, Zhao Liang, Shi Peng and Yuan Chang. Together they were called the four great masters of Zi Sha pot. Their advantage was the art design of their tea pots. In the next Wanli Era (1573-1620) there were Shi Dabin, Li Zhongfang and Xu Youquan as the three greatest tea pot makers in the time. There were also dozens of other famous Zi Sha craftsmen such as Chen Zhongmei, Shen Junyong, Ou Zhengchun and Shao Wenjin.

The Tianqi and Chongzhen Eras (1621-1644) was the end of the Ming Dynasty. The most famous Zi Sha makers were Chen Junqing, Zhou Jishan, Chen Hezhi, Chen Tingsheng, Hui Mengchen and Shen Ziche. Among them Hui Mengchen was the most respected. He was considered the greatest Zi Sha pot maker after Shi Dabin. His tea pot had became a particular style of Zi Sha pot. Today, the tea pot used in the Gongfu Tea Ceremony is still called the Mengchen Pot.

From 1393 to 1484 AD, all kinds of craftsmen were controlled by the Ming government firmly. In 1484 this policy was stopped so that the Zi Sha workers resumed their freedom. The pottery industry had a great development at that time. In the late Ming Dynasty, Yixing had became the hub of Chinese Zi Sha potteries and Zi Sha products were contributed to every corner of China from there.

The Ming Dynasty was also a revolution time of the Chinese tea tradition. Tea bud was used in stead of tea powders and they were brewed instead of stewed. Tea pot had been used as a major tea equipment rather than jars or cups. The container was also smaller and smaller. In the Song Dynasty (960-1279) the typical size of a tea pot was 2000ml, while in the Ming Dynasty it was only 450 ml. Zi Sha was also more preferred than the silver, tin or copper and became the major material of tea equipment.

Background Knowledge: History of China

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