2006 Yingge International
Ceramics Festival An Adventure in Ceramics Land

---Article by Taipei County Government
Translated by Sho Huang

2006/10/06–10/29
Hours:9:30 am-5 pm; Holiday 9:30 am-6 pm
Location:Taipei County Yingge Ceramic Museum and Ceramic Park on the ceramic street and WenHua Road in Yingge.

An Adventure in Ceramics Land
The charm of ceramics doesn't lie solely in its beauty, as many ceramics merge creativity and practicality to produce something that can be used in daily life--though some is created simply to appreciate. The annual Yingge International Ceramics Festival has been a huge event in Yingge and is an opportunity for the public to learn and understand more through fun activities. This year, with the theme "An Adventure in Ceramics Land", various programs from October 6th to 29th will be launched at the Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum (and the adjacent Ceramics Park) and various locations in Yingge Township (the Ceramics Old Street, WenHua Rd.). The public is invited to explore the beauty of ceramics and have fun.

Charming Ceramic Exhibition
There are five ceramic exhibitions included in the festival. Each has its own unique character to display Taiwan's glorious ceramic history. The design of the Ceramic Museum emphasizes natural lighting so the dance of shadows can be seen all day in the museum, which explains the title, "The Games of Light: the Museum's Architecture". Yingge's ceramic industry started in 1970 and has attracted great attention nationally and internationally. "The Splendid Gathering of Artist-Painted Porcelain Exhibition" has invited 13 outstanding ceramic artists to present their works. In addition, "Creative Living: A Selected Exhibition of New Ceramic Works" and "A Harmony of Multiple Visions: an Exhibition of Dorris Hui-yin Shih's 2006 Works" combine the beauty of Chinese painting, oil painting and ceramics. Another exhibition, "San Yin Art Boulevard--Yuan Hsiung Ceramic Mosaic Exhibition", held in Fong Lu Hot Spring in SanSia, presents the fun of ceramic and mosaic. These five exhibitions allow the public to gain insight into some of the multi-sided aspects of ceramics.

Kiln Activities
"Kiln Demonstration" is a series of activities to educate the public. It was common to build kilns with mud in the early days of ceramic history. This year, the Ceramic Museum is having experts demonstrate the whole ceramic process with a mini-earthen kiln to let the public relate more to ceramic art. The art of ceramic dolls formed a long way back, and the "Pottery Figures Workshop" activity is arranged to show the ancient skills in Taiwan well-known artists. "Raku Demo", one of the most popular activities last year, will be expanded to include an introduction to Japanese and American ceramic history. The public will also have the chance to witness the process of having the pottery done in low heat. Besides all the demonstrations, "A Journey to Yingge Kiln Studios" will guide the public to modern and traditional ceramic factories.
"An Adventure to the Clay Planet" program is designed for children 12 or under to experience the fun of grabbing and squeezing mud in the "Close to Mud" section. The "Mosaic" section is where the children can go crazy putting ceramic tiles on a mosaic wall. "Fun with Ceramic" section provides a place to appreciate the graceful lines and the fun of ceramic instruments, such as percussion and pipe instruments. "Construction" section has different themes at different times of the day in which children can learn how to build ceramic houses and, what's better, they can take them home. "Brick Carving Activity" is to carve your own designs on the bricks before being put in the kiln. After being fired, the bricks can be used as decoration or collected.

Paying Respect to Ceramic God Festival in Yingge
Yingge has a long history of ceramics and the "Paying Respect to Ceramic God" festival (Lunar calendar September 9) has become Yingge's special religious tradition. Legend has it there were two brothers, Luo Wen and Luo Ming, who were very good at pottery. The festival is mainly dedicated to them. To enable the public to understand and experience more about the energy of the Ceramic God, this long-practiced tradition is included in this An Adventure in the Ceramics Land project to help preserve local culture.

Besides "The Welcoming Pottery Gods Parade", three routes, Yingge Culture Old Street, Yingge Ceramic Old Street and Yingge Historical Building, are designed to allow the public to experience making pottery and having fun with pottery. While visiting all these charming Yingge cultural sites, you can also taste local snacks and cuisines. In addition, the SanSia-Yingge holiday culture tour bus will also take you to tourist sites in SanSia and Yingge.

Fun activities
All sorts of fun activities are arranged for this event: concerts, magic shows, sketching, comic character drawing, cut-out silhouettes, clowns and individual or group performances that can be seen either at the Ceramic Museum, the Ceramic Park or every corner in town.

Creating a ceramic piece involves mixing, kneading, shaping, pulling, drying and firing. If we turn the process into fun competitions, the public learns about ceramic culture from playing games. The "Yingge Ceramics Competitions" is made up of four parts: carrying mud, pulling the pottery with eyes blindfolded, pulling pottery between couples and mud ball throwing games, which will be held at Yingge Old Street and WenHua Road. Entrance is free and awards are presented as soon as each game is completed. What's more, every participant can get a present.

In the early stage of Taiwan's agriculture society, children used the soil as their source of food and fun. The most common example is the yam-baking earthen kilns. From building the kiln to making a fire, the children were divided up to be responsible for different tasks. Children learn about teamwork as well as have fun in the field. If you come to the "Yam-baking Earthen Kilns" events held in the Ceramic Park, you will be able to experience the fun all over again.

An Adventure in the Ceramics Land in Cool October
One-day tours are also designed for junior or elementary schools and groups. Activities in the tour include visiting the studios, ceramic workshops, fun ceramic stage shows, ceramic demonstrations and the earth kiln yam baking activity. You can also make a reservation to visit Yingge Ceramic Studio.
2006 Yingge International Ceramics Festival has arranged a wide variety of activities to let the public learn more about Yingge ceramic history and enjoy fun games. You definitely don't want to miss this chance to experience the festival spirit and explore ceramic charm.
Please visit the website for more information: www.ceramics.tpc.gov.tw

Public Transportation:
By train
Get off the train at Yingge and exit from the WenHua Road exit. It is a 10 minute walk along WenHua Road.
By bus:
1.Taipei Bus 917:MRT YonNing Station-Yingge Ceramic Museum.
2.Taipei Bus 702:Taipei ZhongHua Road-MRT XinPu Station-Panciao-ShuLin-Yingge Ceramic Museum-SanSia
3.Taipei Bus Blue 19:Panciao Train Station-ShuLin-Yingge Ceramic Museum-SanSia
4.Taoyuan Bus:Taoyuan-Yingge Ceramic Museum-SanSia
By car:
1.Highway 3-SanYin interchange (SanSia-Yingge)-heading toward Yingge-SanYin Bridge, in 3 minutes, you're there.
2.Highway 2 (Taoyuan inner lane) :Get off at DaNan interchange (BaDe-Yingge), and head toward Yingge. You will pass YinTao Road-ZhongSan Road-ZhongSan Road-GuoQing Street. It’ll take you 10 minutes or so.
3.Others:
(1) Coming from ShiLin, TaoYuan and GueiSan: ZhongSan Road-GuoQing Road-GuoQing Street-WenHua Road
(2) Coming from BaDe:BaDe Road-ZhongZheng Second Road-WenHua Road
(3) Coming from SanSia, TuCheng and DaSi:Taiwan Line 3-SanSia FuXing Road-SaYin Bridge-WenHua Road
(4) Parking: There is a parking lot in front of the Ceramics Museum on HuangHe Road
Buses during the festival(2006/10/6–10/29):
SanYin (SanSia and Yingge) holiday buses:
You can purchase the tickets and get on the bus at the following locations: Yingge Train Station (JiangGuo Road exit), Ceramics Old Street, Hakka Culture Area, SanSia ZhuShu Temple(9:30 am-6:30 pm every 20-30 minutes from the Ceramics Museum)
Free bus ride for Yingge residents during 10/6–10/29, please visit the website for more information: www.yingge.gov.tw/home.html
Tickets:
1.Adults NT$100, Discounted tickets NT$70;group tickets NT$70?student tickets NT$50 (Field trip deals can’t apply to the event)
2.Weekend deal, NT$99 (Saturday and Sunday on 10/6 to 10/10)