Huairou District was a center for producing the glazed tiles used in palaces and temples in Imperial Times. This kiln was established in the 1960’s during the Cultural Revolution as a village industry. By the 1990’s the operation had been privatized.

When we first discovered the site in 2006 it had been virtually run into the ground by a villager employing a crew of migrants from Sichuan. Thick black coal smoke poured from the nine chimneys with every kiln firing and rubble and trash lay everywhere. And yet the tiles were magnificent.

Click on Before to view a slide show of the original Brickyard when it was a working glazed tile factory.

Click on Construction to view a slide show of how the dilapidated site was transformed .