Rongchang lies about a hundred and ten kilometres west of the Chongqing city centre, on the old road towards Chengdu, and it has been a manufacturing town for a long time. Its reputation rests on three products, traditionally listed together as the three treasures of Rongchang: pottery, summer cloth and folding fans. All three are still made, and because the district is off the main tourist circuit you can watch them being made without a crowd around you.
Pottery
Rongchang is counted among the historic pottery centres of China, and the local clay is fired without glaze into a thin-walled red-brown ware. The old production was domestic - great jars for oil and pickles, crocks for wine, water vessels, teapots, and the small braziers that people in the region used under tables in winter - and the ware was valued for being light, hard and slightly porous, so that water kept in it stayed cool. The kilns were concentrated at Anfu, west of the town, where the old workshops, a kiln street and a pottery museum can be visited, and where working potters still throw, carve and fire in the traditional way. Contemporary studios there sell directly, and prices are a fraction of what the same pieces cost in a city gallery.
Summer cloth and folding fans
Summer cloth is woven from ramie, a fibre from a nettle-family plant that has been cultivated in southern China for thousands of years. The fibre is stripped and spun into a stiff, glossy yarn and woven on wooden looms into a fabric that is cool to wear, dries quickly and takes starch to a crisp finish - the material of traditional summer jackets, trousers and mosquito nets. The finishing involves a bleaching and softening process done by hand. Rongchang's other craft, the folding fan, uses local bamboo for the ribs and paper for the leaf, and is still made in small workshops alongside the cloth.
Practical notes
Rongchang is reached by rail or road from Chongqing in around two hours, and a car makes the craft sites much easier since they are spread between the town and Anfu. There is no admission charge at most workshops, and the makers are generally happy to explain what they are doing if you ask; buy something if you have taken their time. The district combines well with Dazu, which is on the road back towards Chongqing.
