In 1985, before crossing the river, Gu Jingzhou (front row, right) photographed with colleagues in Shanghai. In 1988, Gu Jingzhou attended the Arts Congress and visited Tiananmen. Throughout his decades-long artistic career, he progressed through contending with himself and grew through challenging himself. He stood alone in the art world, yet the unwavering technical and artistic standards in his heart led him to treat each of his works with strict criteria. Before Gu Jingzhou, the history of Yixing pottery had already seen the brilliance of masters such as Shi Dabin, Chen Mingyuan, and Shao Daheng. In his own era, there were also the distinguished figures of Jiang Yanchun, Zhu Kexin, Wu Yungen, Wang Yinchun, Pei Shimin, and Fan Guangling. However, Gu Jingzhou did not confine himself within the rigid frameworks of tradition. While absorbing the experiential achievements of his predecessors, he never simply copied them mechanically. Instead, he embraced all approaches and incorporated the strengths of many schools. For example: In the past, many old artisans would stamp the seal on the lid bottom facing toward the spout, while the handle inscription would face toward the handle, in the opposite direction from the bottom seal. This made it very inconvenient for the person holding the teapot, requiring a 180-degree rotation to see both inscriptions clearly. Gu Jingzhou did not blindly follow convention simply because this was an ancestral habit. He established that the seal direction on the bottom should face toward the handle, so that both inscriptions aligned in the same direction, making viewing both effortless and convenient. Another example: Gu Jingzhou held Shao Daheng in the highest regard, but when copying Shao Daheng's works, he always incorporated his own artistic language. His "Large Mouth Fan Belly Imitation Drum Teapot" was derived from Shao Daheng's "Imitation Drum Teapot," presenting the distinctive archaic beauty characteristic of "Shao teapots" and inheriting the "solidity" and "momentum" that Shao had "passed down."