德钟 De Zhong, specifically, Jian Liu - "Sword Flow" De Zhong.
The Must-Have ZiSha model, created by the all-important master of ZiSha in its history: Shao Da Heng. Shao Da Heng is our Grand Master Shao Shun Sheng's great-great-great-great-grandfather (6 Generations direct lineage).
Here in this Sword Flow De Zhong, Craftsman Gu also conscientiously sculpted a 手推内球孔 Hand-Pushed Spherical Filter to increase the number of filter holes for a solid and fast pour of tea out and with better catching of tea leaves at the bottom fast while allowing tea to flow out from the upper holes.
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Regarding the 老 "Lao".
Lao Zi Ni, would easily translate as “Old/Aged Zi Ni”
However please do not fall to this narrative oft times used by many retailers even within China, to hoax the newcomers and customers.
As you have already read on our main page explanation, revealing how and what many retailers have been writing to dupe/hype customers into believing and buying: "clay AGED for more than twenty years", "clay aged since the 1960s”. Do not fall for this narrative.
We apologise to say, but, there really is no such thing in our fraternity lauding "clay that is aged for many years!". No such thing at all.
There is an optimum period of time, between 1) processing the ore into the clay brick, and 2) taking out this clay for use to craft a pot. This optimum period is between one year to five years.
If left "aging" as a clay brick more than five years, the quality of the ZiSha actually suffers and degrades.
However countless other retailers from YiXing or from other provinces, continue hoaxing our local Chinese consumers, or simply spreading this narrative downstream to their next-level chain of retailers: lauding their pots are made of "Aged Clay": often writing as such: “This pot is made from clay that is aged for twenty years since the 80s: "陈腐多年的紫砂泥料”!!!”
NEVER FALL FOR IT.
Let us go back to this Lao Zi Ni explanation.
Lao Zi Ni, in Chinese, are these three characters: 老紫泥.
Note the words: 老 Lao, and, 紫泥 Zi Ni.
The Chinese character 老 Lao, can mean two things!
1. 老 Lao, as in Old/Aged,
And,
2. 老 Lao, as in hard or tough when describing cooked meat, e.g. "厨师把这片肉煮得太老了。" meaning "The Chef has cooked this piece of meat, too long and thus too hard."
THE PROPER fraternity here in YiXIng, when we call a clay 老 "LAO", we actually refer to and mean that: the clay is from ores excavated from extremely DEEP (Harder) strata geologically. These ores are pressed upon hugely due to the gravitational mass above it. This layer of ore will hence be Hard.
Therefore, the ore pickers will term such a hardened layer of Zi Ni that is excavated from such deep layers, "老紫泥 Lao Zi Ni". Thus the proper fraternity mean it is hard.
But the unscrupulous retailers will play on this word 老 to say it is "Old/Aged" Clay.
It gives us goose pimples.
Whatever we sell you, you can bring it to YiXing during our Hospitality Tour to drink tea with Grand Masters Cao Ya Lin 曹亚麟, He Dao Hong 何道洪, Shao Shun Sheng 邵顺生, and you are in a happy proper ecosystem with truthful, rightful pieces of our precious ZiSha Art proper fraternity.
As long as all are picked cleanly, all ZiSha types are equally cherished in our eyes. The difference in price relates to their rarity, but we never say rare = better quality.
You can teach others on our behalf please or else everybody else fall into rabbit holes and spend a lot of money on things that aren't true. We just say it as it is in Ground Zero with our Grand Masters and in Museums, we want you dearest guardians of Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and Craft, to have simply, the best, the honest and the worthy!!! No hype please, no extortionate prices. Sacrificial and lowest prices afforded by these committed Craftsmen and Artists!
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Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming 顾小明 thanks you dearest friends for your grandest support to the honest and dedicated Craftsmen left to fend the Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art. Enjoy his diligence, excellent handwork with this De Zhong and let his work accompany you on your tea journey!
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Here with us in our happy family of true ZiSha connoisseurs, you witness 90-120 photos taken of EACH Fully-Handmade ZiSha work here.
Compare this to elsewhere: factory bosses of jigger-machining non-zisha pots contribute downstream to their retailers: 5-10 stock photos for each non-zisha pot model, used to sell a stock of 10, 20, 30 jigger-machined non-zisha pots per model. I.e. 5-10 photos to sell hundreds of one model.
We at RealZiSha, take 90-120 photos, fresh, of EACH, ONE, Fully-Handmade ZiSha work. Together with our sacrificial and hardworking Craftsmen and Artists committed to honest true Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and Craft, we at RealZiSha go the eons' distance.
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Explained, https://www.realzisha.com/blogs/news/actual-zisha-landscape-at-yixing , the Craftsman by selling his hard-worked ZiSha craft at $190-$240, $45-$65 goes to the cost of the craft, inclusive of the fees for the firing for the kiln operator (three times per pot), the packaging boxes, and between $32 to $52 for the clay (Zi Ni Di Cao Qing, Duan Ni and upwards) used per pot. Craftsman takes 3 days (fastest 2.5days) to craft a pot.
If he works 30 days a month without a single day of rest (no family time), he will craft 10-12 pots.
If he crafts for 25 days (five days of rest a month), his output will be 8-10 pots.
The success rate for Zi Ni (e.g. Di Cao Qing, Lao Zi Ni, Da Shui Tan etc) and Duan Ni (e.g. Jiang Po Ni, Qing Hui Duan, etc) is 70% on average. Some times the whole batch of 10 may fail. We have seen our Craftsmen suffer like this very often.
The success rate for Zhu Ni (e.g. Xiao Mei Yao Zhu Ni) pots is 60%, or 70% with most optimism and at the very, very best. Unfortunately.
All of us at RealZiSha of course, hope for one another, professional colleagues and all, that all the pots will survive firing at the kiln successfully.
[For ZiSha models/designs that are very challenging and more complicated to craft, the time taken to craft will be longer, and the failure rate will be higher as well. Zi Sha by its virtue, have the highest shrinkage rate of all ceramic clay. Zi Ni and Duan Ni thus have that 70% success rate, while Zhu Ni has even higher shrinkage rate and thus even lower success rate (the lowest of all ceramic clay.)]
Our Craftsmen are wholeheartedly committed to the cause of Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and their strictness with their craft and dedication earn our respect. We give a big Thank You all of these Craftsmen, for they are saving what is our common precious tea culture: Tea + Fully-Handmade ZiSha Art and Craft. Your support is vital to their livelihood and the existence of this craft for all of the tea fraternity.
Thank you Friends!
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BRING ONE HOME, USE IT and you will know all about Fully-Handmade ZiSha, the feel of real and quality YiXing ZiSha, the nurturing of Patina, how the true Patina feels and looks like, the Aura exuded from a Fully-Handmade Pot which others simply can't bring forth, and, Craftsman Gu Xiao Ming's skills, savour the pour. You will know everything then.
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