Beijing Enamel Factory Industry Tourism [Beijing]

Beijing Enamel Factory Co. ltd. is a national sample spot of industrial tourism, and a specialty tourism-brand corporation capable of developing, designing, producing, and marketing of cloisonn¨¦ and offering tourist services. Located in Anlelin Road, Yongdingmen Outer, Chongwen District in the south of Beijing, between 2nd and 3rd Ring Road, it is about 5 kilometers from the center of the city, 500 meters south of the south gate of Temple of Heaven.

The corporation is the largest producer of cloisonn¨¦ in China. Its predecessor was Beijing Enamel Factory founded in Jan. 1956. In 1958 renowned writer Guo Moruo inscribed its name. It is the only cloisonn¨¦ producer in the country that has been designated as an ¡®Old Chinese Brand¡¯. It is an officially designated producer of tourism products and ethnic articles. In 1978 it was open to foreign tourists. In 1992 it began to run industrial tourism. It covers an area of 23,841 square meters, with a floor space of 24,251 square meters, and a 4,600-square-meter parking lot.

Cloisonn¨¦ is a well-known traditional Chinese handicraft. It started to be made in the late Yuan Dynasty in the 13th century, and came to its heyday during the reign of Jingtai in the Ming Dynasty, hence its name ¡®Jingtai Blue¡¯ in Chinese. Its production is a combination of history, culture, art, and traditional handicraft, integrating traditional painting, carving, encrusting, metallurgy, and glass smelting. The finished product is elegant and magnificent, with the liveliness of Song porcelain and the splendor of brocade. Cloisonn¨¦ is known in China as a distinctive Chinese art, a national treasure and Beijing artwork. It has been granted intense protection as an intangible cultural heritage.

As its production is complicated, difficult, time-consuming, and costly, the cloisonn¨¦ had, for a long time after its invention, been confined to the imperial palace for the imperial family. It was in the late Qing Dynasty that it made its way to the homes of common people as a commodity on the market.

After a visit to the Beijing Special Handicraft Experiment Factory (which merged into the Beijing Enamel Factory in 1958), Ye Shengtao, a renowned writer, wrote a beautiful essay on the making of the cloisonn¨¦, which has been used in a middle school textbook. It is through his graphically detailed description that many people learn about cloisonn¨¦ for the first time. Now tourists may see the whole process of making cloisonn¨¦¨Cmaking copper base, wiring, filling, and polishing. They also have access to the Cloisonn¨¦ Art Museum, Master Studio, and the Classic Works and Collection Show Center.

Making copper base: fan-shaped pieces of different sizes or designs are cut out of processed copper plates and hammered into differently shaped bases;

Wiring: metal wires are arranged into patterns with special pliers, glued to the base, and secured with soldering chemicals. Like line drawing, they form the basic patterns of cloisonn¨¦.

Filling: a special glaze is filled between the wires with blue paint spray gun and dried in high heat. This repeated three or four times, like the coloring of a painting.

Polishing: the uneven surface of the dried glaze needs to be polished until it evenly reflects the light and the filigree shows, before the final step¨Cgilding.

After seeing these you will no longer find the making of cloisonn¨¦ mysterious.

The Cloisonn¨¦ Art Museum shows the 600-year-long history of the making of cloisonn¨¦ with pictures, captions, and relics, and the classic works produced by the enamel factory at different periods with different styles. It is the first systematic, comprehensive account of the past and the present of the art in the country, and a platform for showing tourist from home and abroad the corporation¡¯s achievements in carrying the legacy and breaking new grounds. Master Studio offers custom-made cloisonn¨¦ works. Classic Works and Collection Show Center displays the corporation¡¯s classic works produced over the years, works that have won golden prizes at the state, ministry, or city level, and reproductions of the Yuan, Ming, and Qing cloisonn¨¦ kept in the Palace Museum. The originated works shown here represents the summit of the cloisonn¨¦-making technique. The hall of for-sale products is like a kingdom of the cloisonn¨¦ art, with over 2,000 cloisonn¨¦ handicrafts on display.

Address: No. 10 Anlelin Road, Yongdingmen Outer, Chongwen District, Beijing