A new do-it-yourself ceramic workshop opened in suburban Beijing on Saturday, offering another interesting outlet for the talents of artistically inclined residents of the capital.

The workshop, in Shunyi District, has a floor area of 3,000 square meters and was built by a major ceramic producer in Jingdezhen of east China's Jiangxi Province, a city that has been the main center of ceramic production in China for more than 1,000 years.

The workshop is much larger and more sophisticated than most other do-it-yourself ceramic facilities in Beijing.

"My family has been making ceramics for centuries in Jingdezhen, and I want Beijing residents to have the opportunity to work in a really professional ceramic workshop," said Liang Ronghui, general manager of the Shendi (Magic Flute) Ceramic Workshop.

Liang's workshop, near the Yishengyuan International Convention Center, has three rows of shops divided into six parts, to handle the series of stages in ceramic production.

In the first shop the would-be potter rolls the clay into a predetermined shape according to traditional rules, and he (she) shapes the clay base by cutting off pieces of clay with special machines in the second shop.

In the third a novice potter can try clay sculpting, an ancient handicraft. More room for creation is allowed in this shop, as he or she can sculpt according to individual taste.

In the fourth shop an aspiring artist can paint or write on his or her production, apply the glaze, then send it to the kiln in the fifth shop for firing, and finally, in the sixth shop, our nascent potter can apply final touches to improve color and pattern. All that remains is for our new potter to admire or criticize his or her creation.

Senior craftsmen from Jingdezhen are there to help the aspiring potters through the entire process.

(China Daily May 26, 2004)