8 of these 66 workshops are taught in English. At 51 of them you follow the hands rather than the words, which is how most of these crafts are taught to anybody, and 7 need an interpreter in the room. That is worth knowing before you book rather than after.
8 of them are places where you watch the work and take nothing away: distilleries, a roast duck house, a martial arts stage show. They are marked at the top of the entry. Of the rest, 27 finish the same day and 17 end with a piece that goes into a kiln after you leave, to be collected later or posted on.
The background on what counts as a craft lesson here is on the making things page.
What You Would Be Making
| Craft | Places | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Ceramics | 17 | 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. |
| Textiles and Dyeing | 16 | Indigo vats, back-strap looms and embroidery frames. The dyeing finishes the same day; the weaving does not, because a full piece on a loom takes days. |
| Food and Drink | 13 | Noodles pulled by hand, dumplings pleated, tea picked and fired in a wok. A few of these are distilleries and roast duck houses where the work is done in front of you and nothing is handed over. |
| Martial Arts | 12 | Wing Chun, taiji and the Shaolin and Emei schools. Several take foreign students for weeks at a time and will issue a visa invitation; others are one evening class a week. |
| Paper and Writing | 8 | Xuan paper lifted from the vat, New Year prints pulled from pear wood blocks, rubbings taken off carved stone. |
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.