Pots, Tiles Tell Tales

Once upon a time, Qi He, the wife of master of heaven Di Jun, gave birth to 10 sons,10 immortal raven gods. Every day, one of the three-legged ravens set off from fu sang, a 300 li tall tree on Tang Gu mountain, to carry one of the 10 suns on his back across the sky.One fateful day, just for fun, all the ravens decided to appear together. The sky burned so brightly, the very existence of all living beings on earth was threatened and the people on earth implored the heavens to show mercy.Di Jun summoned Hou Yi, master archer of the skies, and told him to order the raven suns back to Tang Gu. But Hou could not convince them of his threat and was forced to shoot down nine of the ten. Today, only the one raven remains, making his regular daily round of the earth, burning orb borne on his back. The raven is thus a symbol of the sun and his image appears on a striking centerpiece eave tile at the Museum of Ancient Pottery Civilization.Stories like these abound in the exhibits at the pottery museum, which can be explained and expertly by Tang Ying, a resident manager, who will willingly muster her most-informed English to explain the full purpose, meaning and importance of each exhibit.More than 2,000 pieces divided into three sections: colored pottery, eave tiles and clay seals. After seeing and hearing about the section on the history of Chinese eave tiles ,it's impossible to walk past an old Chinese building and not conduct a quick inspection.As a part of traditional Chinese architecture, eave tiles were put on the end of a rafter to keep off rain and wind. As time passed, the decorative function and aethetic value of the eave tiles developed. The Qin Dynasty (221B.C.-206B.C.) and Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.) were "the Golden Age" of eave tiles. Designing tiles became a comprehensive art combining calligraphy, carving, painting and architecture. The content of the eave tile varies from events and real life people to mythical animals and totems. Some eave tiles merely contain a person's name or an expression of blessing. The exhibition in this museum can be regarded as the first specialist display in this field.