The Best Day…..

With the fair over, there were several options for our final day in Jingdezhen. The promoters of the fair had set up a day of tours which included ceramic factories, museums and studios. Jackson Li had invited us to his studio and residence in Sanbao which was an hour away by bus and Yana was considering returning to Shanghai so we’d have more time there and it would also serve to break-up the long return journey. Ultimately, we both chose to go to Jackson Li’s studio. Excellent choice and my favorite day of the trip!  After a short bus ride with our Japanese friends we arrived where the the roadway was blockaded and you could drive no further. Lots of officers directing traffic to turn around. I thought they were the Chinese police but actually we were at the entrance to Jackson’s property and from there we continued by foot. We were in the countryside, damp and mossy, walls of ancient pottery jars stacked six-feet high, huge cobalt-blue decorated vases and statues of gods and emperors entwined with ivy, a stone and tile walkway to a red bannered ancient wooden doorway where we rang and waited to be invited in. The doorman led us into an environment of old- very, very old!  Jackson greeted us and gave of us a tour of his many work rooms and his residence. We sat around a large wooden table while he served us many cups of the organic tea which he grew on the hillsides around his pottery. The land he had purchased to preserve the countryside from being developed. After tea and conversation we returned to our tour, the" heartbeat of Sanbao", the room where clay was processed from clumps of earth by long logs powered by water from his stream, creating the loud sound of thump, thump, thump. Then to the kitchen where three ladies were making dumplings and a fellow on the floor feeding the fire of their stove. Jackson joined in, manning a very large wok where he added spices and noodles and then motioned us to choose our bowl from a stack which he filled with his broth and then we continued our walk along his river to a wooden platform by the stream laden with stools and chairs. Soon after, large bamboo trays of dumplings arrived; little did we know they were being made for us and they were delicious! The environment, serene, to be a savored memory forever; verdant, calm, peaceful, joyful, glorious and precious.  Thank you so much Jackson Li for your hospitality and graciousness!