On December 14, Liu Xin, Deputy Secretary of the CPC Changchun Municipal Party Committee and Acting Mayor of Changchun, inspected the Changchun International Ceramics Gallery. He was accompanied by Zhao Xian, Secretary General of the Changchun Municipal Government, and Shao Daming, Director of the Management Committee of Changchun Lotus Mountain Ecological Tourism Resort.

The Changchun International Ceramics Gallery was established in 2015. So far, it has collected more than 630 works created during seven consecutive sessions of China Changchun International Ceramics Symposium. These works were created by 172 ceramists from 44 countries and regions. The Changchun International Ceramics Gallery is a known professional art museum in the ceramics field.

Guided by the staff of the Changchun International Ceramics Gallery, Liu Xin and his party visited the ceramic culture area, the exhibition area for the works of 2018 China Changchun International Ceramics Symposium, the exhibition area for international high-quality works, the exhibition area for Ukrainian works and the exhibition area for Chinese works. They also inspected teacher training and youth experience classrooms and purple clay studios.

Mayor Liu Xin fully affirmed the achievements of the Changchun International Ceramics Gallery and related departments in holding the China Changchun International Ceramics Symposium for seven consecutive years under the leadership of the municipal government, saying, “Thank the former mayor Cui Jie and thank you all. You have made a great contribution to the cultural development of Changchun. Ceramics needs the dedication of people with ideals and feelings. I hope you will continue to work hard.” He highly praised the works of the collection, especially the work The Secret created by Paola Grizi, an Italian ceramist, the ceramic board The Dancers created by Elena Slastnikova, a Russian ceramist, the relief work Ukrainian Legend created by Marko Galenko, a Ukrainian ceramist, the work A Goat with its Head Held High created by Zhou Guozhen, a contemporary Chinese ceramics master, the work Love of Peony created by a veteran master Liu Yuanchang, the work The Swan Neck Vase created by Sun Qinghua, the first person of rilievi in China, etc. Liu Xin communicated with the staff about technical issues such as the chemical composition of clay, the firing temperature of the works, and the methods of glazing with great interest.

Shao Daming, Director of the Management Committee of Changchun Lotus Mountain Ecological Tourism Resort reported the preparation work (key points) of 2019 China Changchun International Ceramics Symposium and the Lotus Mountain International Ceramics Forum. After the report, Acting Mayor Liu Xin pointed out: “Changchun is a city with a lot of cultural heritage, and its sculpture creation is internationally influential. The ceramics symposium is supposed to be popular, too. It needs to be combined with the exhibition activities in Jilin Province and Changchun City, ice and snow tourism activities, and sculptures exhibitions. With the China Changchun International Ceramics Symposium, Changchun has been at the forefront in China in terms of international ceramics symposiums, and relevant experience needs to be well summarized and promoted. The type of activities, such as “ceramics contests”, should be diversified. Funding is not a problem, but the key is whether internationally influential masters can be invited or not. Changchun Lotus Mountain Ecological Tourism Resort will start to hold the China Changchun International Ceramics Symposium from 2019. The symposium should be forward-looking and be combined with tourism and vacation, and teacher training and youth experience activities. It should also be combined with the business operation of ceramics. When the conditions are ripe, ceramic works can be sold at auction. Each ceramist can create 3 works, among which 1-2 works are for collection, and 1-2 works are for auction. The works can be traded online. By doing so, this can produce both economic benefits and wider influence.”