Ceramics · 17 places · 6 regions
Wheel, clay and a kiln. Almost all of these end with a piece that has to be fired after you leave, so it is collected on a later day or posted on.
17 of them, grouped by region. The last column carries the four things that decide whether the day works: what language it is taught in, what you come away with, how it is booked, and the price where a venue publishes one. Or see all five crafts.
2 places
North China (华北)
| Where you go | City | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| Beijing Ceramic Art Museum (北京陶瓷艺术馆)On the fourth floor of the Minlong building in Shilihe, free to walk around under a city government notice. A reporting visit by a national outlet describes the studio inside teaching shaping and painting: you throw, or paint an unfired body. Fired and collected later, and the session needs a phone booking the day before. | Beijing | Taught by demonstration Fired later, collect or post Phone ahead |
| Cizhou Kiln Museum (磁州窑博物馆（陶吧工艺作坊）)The museum’s own site says its clay room and craft workshop remain open to visitors. You work the clay and then try the black-on-white painting that gives Cizhou ware its look, ending with one small painted piece, fired and collected later. Closed Monday.On the national intangible heritage list | Handan, Hebei | Taught by demonstration Fired later, collect or post Phone ahead |
9 places
East China (华东)
| Where you go | City | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| Hanlin Ceramics Workshop, Dehua (德化翰林陶瓷DIY体验（泉州工艺美术学院大学生创业中心）)Run by staff and students from the Quanzhou arts college. The provincial tourism centre records sixty wheels, room for three hundred people at once and fifty instructors teaching one to one. You throw or hand-build a white porcelain cup or bowl, fired and then collected or posted.On the national intangible heritage list | Dehua, Fujian | Taught by demonstration Fired later, collect or post Walk in |
| Gesheng Pottery Manor, Dingshu (葛盛陶庄（紫砂体验馆）)A three-courtyard compound below Longbei hill with a dragon-kiln heritage hall and a 400 square metre zisha classroom. The county government reports that it runs clay sessions for school groups and foreign visitors year round: you wedge the clay, build the body of a small zisha cup, and collect it after firing.On the national intangible heritage list | Yixing, Jiangsu | Taught by demonstration Fired later, collect or post Walk in Passport is enough to book |
| Sanbao International Ceramic Art Village Museum (景德镇三宝国际陶艺村博物馆)A farmhouse valley outside town that the ceramic artist Li Jianshen turned into an artists’ residency in 1998, now also a museum. The provincial culture department lists it as a place to eat, sleep and learn the craft. You throw in converted farm buildings; work is fired and collected or posted.On the national intangible heritage list | Jingdezhen, Jiangxi | Taught in English Fired later, collect or post Phone ahead |
| Taoyangli Historic Quarter (Xujia Kiln Workshops) (陶阳里历史文化旅游区（徐家窑作坊群）)The Xujia kiln keeps the wood-firing workshop layout of the Ming and Qing potteries around it. Visitors throw and paint under a heritage-listed potter, making cups and bowls that are fired afterwards and collected later or posted on. The city government says the quarter runs ticketing in several languages and lends offline translators in seventeen.On the national intangible heritage list | Jingdezhen, Jiangxi | Taught by demonstration Fired later, collect or post Walk in |
| The Pottery Workshop (Jingdezhen) (乐天陶社（景德镇）)Founded in 1985 in the old sculpture factory, with an artists’ residency and a Saturday morning makers’ market. The workshop advertises a three-hour ceramics session for travellers, throwing on the wheel in the local tradition, with a bilingual coordinator in the room. Work is fired and shipped.On the national intangible heritage list | Jingdezhen, Jiangxi | Taught in English Fired later, collect or post Book on their own site |
| Boshan Ceramics and Glass Art Centre (Renli Studio) (博山陶瓷琉璃艺术中心（人立陶瓷琉璃体验馆）)On Yanshan Park North Road, listed by the city culture bureau among its public cultural venues, showing both ceramics and glass. The Renli studio inside charges for its own sessions: throwing on the wheel, or lampworking a small glass piece. Ceramic work is fired and collected later. | Zibo, Shandong | Taught by demonstration Fired later, collect or post Walk in |
| Shanghai Ceramics Science and Art Museum (上海陶瓷科技艺术馆)The district government’s heritage map calls it the first venue in Shanghai to put ceramic display and ceramic making under one roof, and it has a hands-on area. You throw and then decorate a cup of your own. The session is booked by phone in advance. | Shanghai | Taught by demonstration Fired later, collect or post Phone ahead |
| Piyun Celadon Culture Park, China Celadon Town (中国青瓷小镇披云青瓷文化园（青瓷手工坊）)Inside a converted 1950s porcelain factory at Shangyang, now a graded scenic area. The provincial tourism board’s itinerary describes the celadon workshop here: throwing, marbling, applied and carved decoration, sixty yuan a head for one small piece, fired afterwards and posted on.Inscribed by UNESCO | Longquan, Zhejiang | Taught by demonstration Fired later, collect or post Phone ahead 60 yuan |
| Southern Song Guan Kiln Museum, Hangzhou (杭州南宋官窑博物馆)Built on the kiln site itself, open since 1992 and extended in 2007 with a training centre and a reproduction workshop. The city tourism bureau says visitors can make porcelain in that workshop, a small celadon piece in the Song manner, fired and collected later. Closed Tuesday. | Hangzhou, Zhejiang | Taught by demonstration Fired later, collect or post Walk in |
1 place
Central China (华中)
| Where you go | City | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| Tongguan Kiln Old Town (新华联铜官窑古镇（非遗陶瓷工坊）)A reporter from the provincial news service describes putting on an apron and sitting straight down at the wheel here: throwing, shaping, then painting in the underglaze manner the Tongguan kilns are known for. One small cup, fired and posted on. About forty minutes by road from central Changsha.On the national intangible heritage list | Changsha, Hunan | Taught by demonstration Fired later, collect or post Walk in |
1 place
South China (华南)
| Where you go | City | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| Guangdong Shiwan Ceramics Museum (Nanfeng Ancient Kiln) (广东石湾陶瓷博物馆（南风古灶）)Built into the figurine street beside a Ming dragon kiln that still fires. The museum keeps the old workshop layout used for Shiwan figures, and its clay area lets you throw or model one small figure yourself. Fired afterwards, collected or posted. Closed Monday.On the national intangible heritage list | Foshan, Guangdong | Taught by demonstration Fired later, collect or post Walk in |
3 places
Southwest China (西南)
| Where you go | City | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| Mingyue Village Pottery Studios, Pujiang (蒲江明月村陶艺体验（蜀山小筑、明月窑）)Studios scattered through tea terraces and bamboo, among them Shushan Xiaozhu and the Mingyue kiln. Their own site puts a session at about an hour and fifty to a hundred yuan, with the Mingyue kiln wanting a phone booking a day ahead. Coarse clay cups and jars, fired and collected. An hour out of central Chengdu. | Chengdu, Sichuan | Interpreter needed Fired later, collect or post Phone ahead 50 to 100 yuan |
| Dali Earthenware Teaching Studio (大理土陶制作技艺传习所)Opened in 2018 under the potters Dong Cheng and Dong Jianhua, father and son, both listed at municipal level. The prefecture culture bureau says a visitor course has been developed. You work the local coarse clay and collect the piece after firing. It sits in Jingtian village, Fengyi, and not in the old town.On a provincial or prefecture heritage list | Dali, Yunnan | Interpreter needed Fired later, collect or post Walk in |
| Jianshui Purple Pottery Museum (建水紫陶博物馆)The prefecture culture bureau lists a 3,800 square metre display with a hands-on area attached, free and open Tuesday to Sunday. You throw, then carve and inlay in the local manner, ending with a tea caddy or a vase that is fired and collected later. Wanyao village and Beishan nearby also take visitors.On the national intangible heritage list | Jianshui, Yunnan | Taught by demonstration Fired later, collect or post Walk in |
1 place
Northwest China (西北)
| Where you go | City | What it takes |
|---|---|---|
| Yaozhou Kiln Museum Studio (耀州窑博物馆陶吧)The city culture bureau reports a 120 square metre studio opened in 2022, with separate rooms for wheels, clay preparation and carving, holding fifty people at a time. You throw, then try the carved decoration the Yaozhou kilns are known for, and collect the celadon piece after firing.On the national intangible heritage list | Tongchuan, Shaanxi | Taught by demonstration Fired later, collect or post Walk in |
Getting Into a Workshop
Most of these teach in Chinese and take bookings by phone or on WeChat, which is the part that stops people from abroad. Tell our local team which craft and which week, and they will find out what is running, make the call and say what you will come away with.