Mending porcelain, a folk art that accompanies porcelain, is first mentioned in the Tang Dynasty text “Ciyuan.” An old saying goes, “Without a diamond drill, don’t take on porcelain work,” which refers to this traditional craft.
In 2016, the traditional mending porcelain craft of Linshu County was included in the fifth batch of municipal intangible cultural heritage lists in Linyi City. As one of the representative inheritors of this craft, Yao Xinglu has dedicated many years to mastering mending porcelain. He studied under various masters, including Geng Haisheng, a non-heritage inheritor of mending porcelain in Shandong Province, and Shang Qiankun from Tai’an, honing his skills to breathe new life into damaged items.
Repairing porcelain often takes several hours, which may seem tedious and long to an ordinary person. However, for Yao Xinglu, these hours are engaging and fleeting. “When I focus, time doesn’t feel long. During that time, I become one with the object, and I find joy in it,” he says.
From holding the porcelain, positioning it, drilling, nailing, to sealing the cracks, he approaches every step of the mending porcelain process with care and attention. He has also introduced innovations in the craft, creating new repair techniques such as dragon spine nails, fish spine nails, gemstone nails, unicorn nails, straight nails, and various specialized mending porcelain tools, enhancing the aesthetic and artistic quality of his work.
In Yao Xinglu’s studio, various mending porcelain pieces are displayed: a teapot adorned with a cloud at its base; a missing lid knob replaced with a tiger’s eye bead; a broken cup rim inlaid with a ginkgo leaf, elegant and lively. Every pattern and texture on his mending porcelain pieces reflects his ingenuity.
To raise awareness of this craft, Yao Xinglu has registered accounts on short video platforms like Douyin, Kuaishou, and Xiaohongshu, creating and sharing videos about mending porcelain techniques. He regularly holds free mending porcelain training sessions to teach the craft. “I hope to inspire more young people to take an interest in mending porcelain, to learn it, and to pass on this traditional skill. The culture of mending porcelain should not only survive but thrive,” he says.
