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People often judge a person's contributions by counting how many "firsts" they have achieved.
Of course, these "firsts" involve both personal effort and historical opportunities. However, as long as these "firsts" are valuable and meaningful to society, they are worth our study and historical cultural evaluation.
In the family history of the Fan family and the history of Zisha pottery, Fan Dasheng stands as a towering figure. He has three unprecedented and unmatched historical "firsts" worthy of detailed documentation.
The Shanghai World Expo fulfilled the century-long World Expo dream of the Chinese people. In April 1910, China attempted to hold its own "World Expo" — the first Nanyang Industrial Exposition. Compared to the World Expos held by major world powers, our Nanyang Industrial Exposition was a nascent, unstructured, and unrefined event, but it was a success nonetheless. During that Nanyang Industrial Exposition, the works of Shao Yunru, Fan Dasheng, Cheng Shouzhen, Yu Guoliang, and Jiang Anqing won the highest award for the Zisha industry — the Imperial Award.
Fan Dasheng's "Big Persimmon Teapot," which participated in the Nanyang Industrial Exposition, has returned to Yixing after a century and is displayed in the Fan Family Teapot Art Collection Hall.
In the Yixing Fan Family Teapot Art Collection Hall, one can witness the charm of the "Big Persimmon Teapot." It is made from zisha “duan ni”, presenting a ginkgo yellow color, with a capacity of 350 milliliters. The teapot's body resembles a persimmon, with a lid shaped like a persimmon stem, vividly lifelike. One side of the teapot body is engraved with an ink landscape, while the other side bears a poetic inscription in running script: "When will the gloom break and the spirit be freed? You take the stone ladle while I float like a water flea," signed with "Yixing Product," but without the artist's name. Inside the lid is the imprint "Dasheng." The bottom of the teapot is stamped with a round seal "Year of Yiyou, Nanyang Industrial Exposition." The year of Yiyou is 1909, and 1910 is the year of Gengxu. This "round seal" clarifies that the "Big Persimmon Teapot" was specially designed and made by Fan Dasheng to participate in the first Nanyang Industrial Exposition.
Representing China's First Award
In 1915, the works of Fan Dasheng and Cheng Shouzhen, organized by the Shanghai (Yixing) Liyong Ceramics Company, represented Liyong Company and Chinese products at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, winning the first international gold medal in the history of Zisha, bringing glory to Yixing Zisha and China.
1930 Belgium Expo
Around 1911, the United States invited countries worldwide to participate in the Panama-Pacific International Exposition. The full name of this expo was the "1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition," held mainly to celebrate the completion and opening of the Panama Canal. Forty-one countries, including China, were invited to participate. As China's debut on the international expo stage, it drew significant attention. The expo ran from February 20, 1915, to December 4, 1915, spanning nine and a half months, with over 18 million visitors, setting records for the longest duration and highest participation in world expo history.
The Shanghai (Yixing) Liyong Zisha Ceramics Company sent the works of Fan Dasheng, Cheng Shouzhen, and others, winning the first gold medal for Chinese Zisha.
The First Modern Zisha Educator
Zisha artisans have traditionally passed on their skills from master to apprentice, with each master having one or a few apprentices, and sometimes passing skills to sons but not daughters. This is far from today's enterprise-run schools and formal educational institutions.
After the founding of the "Republic of China," this historical practice began to change, with schools offering "ceramics courses" and enterprises establishing "training institutes." Fan Dasheng was the first Zisha educator involved in both school education and enterprise training, teaching for as long as seven years.
In the fifth year of the Republic of China (1916), Tong Fei, the principal of Jiangsu Provincial No. 5 Middle School (a renowned educator and late Qing dynasty scholar), established a "ceramics course" in the new school to broaden students' horizons and cultivate future talents for the ceramics industry. He invited the already famous Fan Dasheng to teach ceramics. This invitation suggests that Fan Dasheng not only had solid Zisha teapot skills but also possessed a certain level of verbal expression ability, being both a doer and a speaker. Fan Dasheng served as a pottery teacher at "Provincial No. 5 Middle School" for several years, accumulating rich teaching experience, broadening his horizons, and further refining his skills.
In 1921, the Shanghai (Yixing) Liyong Ceramics Company established China's "first" enterprise-run "Liyong Ceramic Workers Training Institute." During this period, "lectures" and "training institutes" were in vogue. Therefore, the Yixing Liyong Ceramics Company invited Fan Dasheng, the first technician of "Liyong Company" and former "ceramics teacher" at "Provincial No. 5 Middle School," to serve as a teacher. Around 1910, Fan Dasheng's Zisha skills were already famous, and when "Yixing Liyong Ceramics Company" was established in 1912, he was hired as a technician. Subsequently, Cheng Shouzhen, Yu Guoliang, Jiang Anqing, and other technicians were also hired.
At the "Liyong Ceramic Workers Training Institute," Fan Dasheng not only taught classes but also took Feng Guilin as an apprentice, generously imparting all his learned and developed skills to Feng Guilin. This foundation enabled Feng Guilin to become a master of his generation, creating a celebrated modern educational story in Zisha history. The three "firsts" achieved by Fan Dasheng in his lifetime are remarkable for any Zisha artisan, and they hold milestone significance in the history of Zisha.
