Yingge and its Kilns

Yingge has made ceramics since the late eighteenth century, when settlers found clay and coal in the same place, and for most of the twentieth century it produced the everyday bowls, tiles and industrial ceramics of the whole island. Much of that manufacturing has gone, but the trade survives in a different form: a street of workshops and shops selling teaware, tableware and studio work, kiln chimneys still standing behind the buildings, and a large ceramics museum of concrete and glass at the edge of the old quarter. The museum covers the technical side properly, from clay bodies and glazes to the different kiln types, and runs throwing and hand-building sessions that can usually be booked on the day.

What you actually see

• The ceramics museum - a technical collection on clay, glaze and kiln types.
• Yingge Old Street - workshops and shops selling teaware and tableware.
• The kiln chimneys - brick stacks left standing behind the buildings.
• Hands-on sessions - throwing and hand-building classes at the museum and in shops.

When to go

Any time of year, since almost all of it is indoors. Weekdays are calm and some workshops will let you stand and watch them work; weekends bring school groups and family classes, and the museum studios book out. The train from Taipei is frequent and cheap, which makes this an easy half day when the weather in the mountains has closed in.

Honest expectations

The old street is short and much of it sells mass-produced ware of no particular origin, so finding the serious studios takes patience and a willingness to walk into quiet shops. The museum is thorough but dry, and its English labelling thins out in the technical galleries. Buying ceramics means carrying them home, and the packing offered is minimal.

Nearby

Sanxia old street and its heavily carved temple are one short bus ride away.