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Aug 8th, '08, 15:56
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by hop_goblin » Aug 8th, '08, 15:56

Is the air in Bejing really bad or what?

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Aug 8th, '08, 16:14
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by betta » Aug 8th, '08, 16:14

hop_goblin wrote:Is the air in Bejing really bad or what?
Yup, it's SMOG, kind of prolonged air pollution which manifests as fog that doesn't disappear simply by change of temperature or sunlight.

Aug 8th, '08, 16:47
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by Grubby » Aug 8th, '08, 16:47

Imo private driving should be banned in all major cities. You should only be allowed to drive to the outskirt of the city. The remaining transportation should be by walking, bicycling or public transport.
Though im not sure thats the main contributor in Beijing, it certainly would help a lot of cities.

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by chrl42 » Aug 9th, '08, 03:09

betta wrote:
hop_goblin wrote:Is the air in Bejing really bad or what?
Yup, it's SMOG, kind of prolonged air pollution which manifests as fog that doesn't disappear simply by change of temperature or sunlight.
Lucky that Beijing is not a tea growing region.

Beijing goverment stopped factories working, let the people drive car even/uneven number of the plate. Pouring artificial rains at night.

And to Salsero, they say 'drastic' change is not by any means should be considered in western or other air-unpolluted area. It could be drastic than before, but not as much for Beijing outsider's standard.

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Aug 9th, '08, 12:17
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by britt » Aug 9th, '08, 12:17

Grubby wrote:Imo private driving should be banned in all major cities. You should only be allowed to drive to the outskirt of the city. The remaining transportation should be by walking, bicycling or public transport.
Though im not sure thats the main contributor in Beijing, it certainly would help a lot of cities.
That's exactly how the global elite wants you to think. Next, they'll complain about the pollution on the outskirts of the cities where they told us to park our cars. The answer will be to move everyone into urban "communitarian" centers where public transportation will be the only choice and will limit when, where, and how far we may travel. Autos will be banned for everyone, except of course, for those who make the rules. They'll still have their BMW's and private jets.

Although you're certainly entitled to your opinion, I'm not willing to concede the automobile or anything else so quickly. Big, abusive government has too much control over us already.

I'm not positive on this, but I believe leaded gas is still used in China. That may be one major contributing factor to their pollution.

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Aug 9th, '08, 12:41
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by britt » Aug 9th, '08, 12:41

About a week ago I received an Yixing I purchased that was claimed to be zhuni. Knowing how complicated the subject of real zhuni can get, before I placed the order I compared the pictures to those of modern and real zhuni on another website. It didn't look like modern zhuni, so I made the purchase.

The pot is definitely a deeper, darker red or crimson than any of my hong ni pots. It is also quite shiny for an unseasoned Yixing.

When I started using it, I noticed that although the lid appeared to fit well, it really doesn't and some moderate leaking occurs. I also noticed the shui pin line significantly misses the mark. These are supposedly two of the reasons why many potters won't work with zhuni, making me believe that I may have the real thing.

However, the most important thing I noticed was the quality of lighter teas like the Tsui Feng Taiwanese high mountain oolong I first brewed in it. I could not detect any flavor that I could attribute to the pot.

This new pot is fairly light and thin, is of a compressed round shape, and is mounted on three feet. It is almost identical to a hong ni I recently purchased for high mountain teas. However, the hong ni dropped out when it came to the super light Da Yu Ling. Since I didn't have any on hand, I decided to brew some Taiwanese green tea in the zhuni pot. I was amazed at how well it came out. Some say you can't brew green tea in a clay pot and more say you can't brew white tea in one. I grabbed some silver needles which is a white tea and one of the lightest teas I've tried. Much to my surprise, it came out exceptionally well when brewed in this Yixing.

I can't say for sure whether this latest purchase is real zhuni, but I will say it has the characteristics of porcelain and then some. For the last week I have regularly switched between green, white, and high mountain teas with no noticeable affect from the pot or the other tea types, and all three were the best I have yet tasted for each of them.

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Aug 10th, '08, 06:31
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by betta » Aug 10th, '08, 06:31

britt wrote:About a week ago I received an Yixing I purchased that was claimed to be zhuni. Knowing how complicated the subject of real zhuni can get, before I placed the order I compared the pictures to those of modern and real zhuni on another website. It didn't look like modern zhuni, so I made the purchase.
Britt , how's the bottom inside the pot looks like?

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Aug 10th, '08, 06:32
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by betta » Aug 10th, '08, 06:32

Lately I came across an article which describes other red clay similar to zhuni, but it's named as Zhou Zhuang Xiaohong. Its descriptions (without pic) seems to match the pot from YLL. Some say it has also shrinkage by natural but has mud-like appearance after firing.
I couldn't find the article anymore.

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by chrl42 » Aug 10th, '08, 07:05

betta wrote:Lately I came across an article which describes other red clay similar to zhuni, but it's named as Zhou Zhuang Xiaohong. Its descriptions (without pic) seems to match the pot from YLL. Some say it has also shrinkage by natural but has mud-like appearance after firing.
I couldn't find the article anymore.
There are many Zhuni-like clays. Guang Dong's Shan Tou teapot is almost same in apppearance as Zhuni, Lan Shan's Xiao Hong is also similar to Zhuni as well as Hunan and other provinces also have Zhuni-like clays.

Zhou Zhuang Xiaohong I interpret as Zhao Zhuang mt in Yixing, as I posted in previous posts. Xiaohong is one branch of Hongni, orangeish in color and very soft texture as known, was used very frenquently by Yixing Factory No.1. Another branch of Hongni is Da Hongni. Strong in redness and bigger particles than Xiao Hong. If not, there is always opposing views..

Oct 30th, '10, 02:54
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Re: Lao Zhuni from Yunnan Sourcing - A closer inspection

by ajiaojiao » Oct 30th, '10, 02:54

not zhu ni

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Re:

by Herb_Master » Oct 30th, '10, 06:41

hop_goblin wrote:
.... Generally, Zhuni today refers to the sifting that the clay will go under. Before the clay is refined it will go thru a sifting process where the heavier impurities will fall to the bottom while the Zhuni layer will float to the top. .......
Interesting :shock:
I had assumed it was the other way round. I have some zhuni pots bought in Malaysia made by a potter called 'Gao Jian Jun' - not renowned for his pot shape and form (though I am delighted by them) my friends buy his pots because of the clay.

He has a huge pile of early 90's ore and every year turns small parts of it into clay to make pots with. The pot I bought 18 months ago was 40 hole clay and the pots I bought recently were 60 hole clay. When asked for an explanation of the difference I was told the 60 hole clay was smoother! When I said I meant what was the technical difference I was told the number of holes referred to the number of holes in a set sized area of the sieve - so the more holes, the smaller the holes are. Thus the clay drops through the sieve and the unwanted particles remain in the sieve.

Maybe different potters have different techniques.

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Re: Re:

by auhckw » Oct 30th, '10, 07:08

Herb_Master wrote:
hop_goblin wrote:
.... Generally, Zhuni today refers to the sifting that the clay will go under. Before the clay is refined it will go thru a sifting process where the heavier impurities will fall to the bottom while the Zhuni layer will float to the top. .......
Interesting :shock:
I had assumed it was the other way round. I have some zhuni pots bought in Malaysia made by a potter called 'Gao Jian Jun' - not renowned for his pot shape and form (though I am delighted by them) my friends buy his pots because of the clay.

He has a huge pile of early 90's ore and every year turns small parts of it into clay to make pots with. The pot I bought 18 months ago was 40 hole clay and the pots I bought recently were 60 hole clay. When asked for an explanation of the difference I was told the 60 hole clay was smoother! When I said I meant what was the technical difference I was told the number of holes referred to the number of holes in a set sized area of the sieve - so the more holes, the smaller the holes are. Thus the clay drops through the sieve and the unwanted particles remain in the sieve.

Maybe different potters have different techniques.
I wonder is there a good site to readup about types of clays for teapots. I intend to get 2 clay based teapot but there are terms which are confusing like yixing, zhuni, chao chou, zhi sha, red clay, purple clay, etc etc. And now you mentioned about hole clay... getting more confused.

I am intending to spend max of about USD700 for 2 clay based teapots (if possible matching for my ripe and raw puerh). I wonder what kind of range I can cover. Artist is not too important to me as long I am happy about the design. My main criteria is of course the performance of the clay. I heard old clay are good, but I need to learn more as the word 'old clay' is too general...

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Re: Lao Zhuni from Yunnan Sourcing - A closer inspection

by Herb_Master » Oct 30th, '10, 07:16

Go to Wisdom Arts, over a number of visits drink Sheng and Shu with them. They use a number of pots whilst brewing for friends, including some that they sell.

After half a dozen visits you can see for yourself what the tea tastes like from the pots they sell.

Ask them which mine Gao's clay ore came from, and tell them next time they visit him to take a photograph of the ore in his backyard for us! :D

Oct 30th, '10, 07:37
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Re: Lao Zhuni from Yunnan Sourcing - A closer inspection

by auhckw » Oct 30th, '10, 07:37

Herb_Master wrote:Go to Wisdom Arts, over a number of visits drink Sheng and Shu with them. They use a number of pots whilst brewing for friends, including some that they sell.

After half a dozen visits you can see for yourself what the tea tastes like from the pots they sell.

Ask them which mine Gao's clay ore came from, and tell them next time they visit him to take a photograph of the ore in his backyard for us! :D
Yes, I agree that I should take my time on this... no rush. Finding a trusted source is very important.

Oct 30th, '10, 09:56
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Re: Lao Zhuni from Yunnan Sourcing - A closer inspection

by isaac » Oct 30th, '10, 09:56

yes, i think that is a wise decision.

US$700 can get you a good pair of clay teapots especially when you are more concerned about the clay than the potter.

Since you are based in Malaysia, may i suggest that you drop by to Singapore and look at Wang San Yang (3 shops: in Vivocity, Orchard Ion and Chinatown - Hong Lim Complex) or Wang San Le (at Chinatown Point) or Yue Hwa Department Store (in Chinatown). There are also others like Tea Chapter, Nam Yuen, etc which I have not visited.

The owners of Wang San Yang had recently returned with a collection of teapots from yixing. I bought 4 teapots from them and find them honest and reliable, qualities i value as extremely important.

I would love to meet a fellow tea enthusiast and although i do not know much, i am willing to share what i know.

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