I have carried out ethnographic research in 2023 and 2024 at Nixi, in extreme North-west Yunnan, near the Tibetan border. There I met Master Chen, a traditional inheritor of this craft, with whom I built since the beginning a wonderful friendship. Nixi is located on the ancient Tea Horse Road, the road that was and still is, albeit is motorized now, tea and other products to and fro the Mainland and Tibet. Master Chen, along with a handful of other traditional potters, is carrying on the heritage on his wise shoulders. The process is completely by hand, with paddle and anvil, and old style open air firing with cow dung is still sometime practiced. House emblems and symbols of buddhist heritage are impressed on the pots. Some new types, like tea pots and cups, are also being invented to appeal modern customers, since craftsmen are never passive carriers of traditions, but are always actively rejuvenating them. 
Pieces range from 80 dollars for the smallest tea sets; 100 for bigger cooking pots that can be used also as water containers; 150 for the most elaborated wares like ewers, cauldrons, hot-pot jars, and others.