Yixing pottery originally served as everyday utilitarian ware for the common people. However, with improvements in manufacturing techniques, advances in craftsmanship, and the integration of humanistic thought, Yixing pottery gradually evolved from craft objects into the realm of art. Consequently, the collecting of Yixing pottery has progressively elevated from personal preference to an area of academic research, within which the authentication of genuine versus fake pieces represents an extremely important and highly challenging subject. In 1996, Gu Jingzhou lay in his hospital bed at Yixing First People's Hospital. Struggling, he made a palm-down turning gesture toward his student Pan Chiping, who had come to visit. With breath as faint as gossamer, he managed to utter three words: "Turn it over!" Pan Chiping understood that his teacher hoped to bring the truth about the "Gong Chun Teapot" case to light. Gu Jingzhou had also discussed his views on this matter with Sheng Pansong during a previous visit: > We must approach history with a commitment to seeking truth from facts. I have the original manuscript in Chu Nanqiang's own handwriting, but I fear that releasing it would impact the Yixing pottery market, so it should not be released for the time being. In the future, we can find an appropriate opportunity to treat it as an academic debate. We must find supporting evidence. Research on Yixing pottery requires the efforts of one or several generations.[1] This case that Gu Jingzhou could never forget originated with Chu Nanqiang, a famous gentry figure from Yixing during the Republican era. In 1928, Chu Nanqiang discovered at a street stall in Suzhou a "tree bark texture" teapot with the seal script characters "Gong Chun" on the bottom and an inscription reading "Made by Gong Chun in the eighth year of Zhengde reign of the Great Ming Dynasty." After conducting research, Chu Nanqiang concluded that this was an authentic original work by Gong Chun. The teapot is now in the collection of the National Museum of China. Regarding research on this teapot, Pan Chiping wrote an essay titled "Extended from the Gong Chun Teapot..." --- [1] Sheng Pansong, "Eternal Remembrance—Recollections of Interviewing Master Gu Jingzhou," in Xu Xiutang, ed., *Record of the Lineages of Jingzhou's Teapot Art: Collection of Works from the Commemorative Exhibition for the Ninetieth Birthday of Yixing Purple Clay Master Gu Jingzhou* (Shanghai: Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, December 2004), p. 37.