Who was the first person that discovered the distinctive purple clay ideal for making teapots? How deep do purple clay teapot collectors love their treasures? There are many interesting Chinese legends and folklore that aim to answer these questions.

Who found purple clay first?

This legend happened many years ago in the village of Yixing in southern China. The villagers there lived a rustic, simple life: most people worked in fields and lived on the crops and vegetables they harvested. Some of them were handymen who could make table ware.

Then suddenly, the tranquility was broken. A mysterious monk popped up unexpectedly. He walked up and down, calling out, “Lucrative clay! Lucrative clay!” The locals looked around, with no idea what the monk meant. The monk then exclaimed, “Don’t you want to become rich!?” The locals were dumbfounded, and didn’t know how to reply. So the monk closed his mouth, and left.

One elderly villager was so curious that he followed the monk. When they went to Mt. Huanglong (Yellow Dragon) in Yixing, the monk disappeared suddenly. The elder looked about for him, but all he could find were some newly-opened caves. Looking inside the caves, he found multicolored pottery clay.

Now the old man understood what the monk had said, so he brought some of the clay out of the cave. He tried to make some pottery. After firing, the pottery gave him a big surprise. They were in purple, yellow, and green. “Oh, I have never seen pottery with these colors,” the old man murmured. Then he showed the pottery to his friends. They were pleasantly surprised, and called the material ‘purple clay.’

A panhandler keeps his purple clay teapot

Once upon a time, there was a rich man who particularly enjoyed drinking tea. No matter who came to his home for tea, rich or poor, he would treat them well.

One day, a beggar came. Instead of food, he only asked for tea. A servant led him in, asked him to take a seat, and offered him a cup of tea. The beggar took a look at the tea, and said, “This tea is not good.”

“It seems this man has a taste for fine tea,” the servant thought, and then brought in another cup of tea. The pauper smelled at the tea, and remarked, “This tea is all right, but the water is not good. If only you had mountain spring water.”

“He must be no ordinary pauper,” the servant thought, and then he immediately made another cup of tea with the mountain water kept in the residence. After taking a sip, the pauper made his comment again, “This water is ok, but the firewood is not the best. You know, the firewood from the mountainside facing the sun is too soft, but wood on the other side is usually good.” The servant marveled at the pauper’s words, so he promptly brewed tea once again using the good firewood, and asked the rich man to come out and meet the strange pauper.

After exchanging a few words, the landlord asked his guest to taste tea again. The panhandler drank a small mouthful of tea, and then made a comment, “Now this tea is pretty good. You used the best tea leaves, mountain spring, and firewood. However, the teapot is not good enough.” “To tell you the truth, this is the best pot I have,” the landlord responded.

Then, the pauper pulled out an elegant purple clay teapot shining with natural gloss, and told the servant, “Please brew again with this pot.” Guess what? The tea turned out to be perfectly good this time! The rich man hungered for this pot so much that he offered at once to buy it.

Saying nothing at all, the panhandler picked up his belongings and was about to go away. The landlord stood in the way at once, offered in a high voice, “I want to exchange half my house and property for that teapot.” The panhandler did not reply, and just tried to leave. The landlord grew so anxious that he raised his pitch again, “All right, my entire house and property, ok?” Recognizing how much the landlord loves a good purple clay teapot, the panhandler smiled and said, “Well, I used to be wealthier than you, but now I have lost everything except this pot, and there’s no way I’ll trade it for anything.”

A purple clay teapot more valuable than life?

In the old days, there was a magistrate who was crazy about collecting and admiring purple clay teapots. At that time, the most famous potter was nicknamed Big Shot. The magistrate had a teapot made by Big Shot, and he thought it was a rare treasure.

Once at a tea party, a maidservant was serving tea to the administrator and his friends. All of a sudden, an accident took place. The cherished purple clay teapot accidentally slipped from the maidservant’s hand, and broke into pieces. The administrator hit the ceiling, and wanted to get reimbursed by taking the frightened girl’s life.

When the potter heard this news, he picked up a dozen of his purple clay teapots and hurried to the magistrate’s residence. The master potter made a suggestion to the magistrate, “Pick one of my best teapots and let the servant girl go.”

The official was thrilled with the offer. He chose the one that was the most appealing to him, and then let the maid go.

Later on, the administrator brought forward another question, “Sir, would you like to sell me the other teapots?” The potter rose to his feet silently, and smashed every one of them.

This unexpected act made the administrator jump out of his skin. He blankly stared at the fragments and the potter, asking, “Why did you do such a thing?” The master potter responded in a resolute voice, “I broke them to save the human lives that may be lost if they were broken in your home.