In fact, what Gu Jingzhou demanded of others, he first demanded of himself. He always led by example in everything he did. Someone recalled that once they went to Gu Jingzhou's workshop at the factory very early in the morning, before work hours had even begun. They found Gu Jingzhou already there inspecting the work his students had completed the previous day. After carefully examining it, he was not entirely satisfied, so he began tapping and striking on the clay slab with a "bing bing bang bang" sound. After a moment of calm concentration, a full-bodied vessel form already stood upon the clay slab, covered in sweat. Gu Jingzhou then smiled and said to his guest: "You make the tea, I'll handle this!" The guest crouched to one side, not daring to breathe heavily, watching Gu Jingzhou's every move. Two hours later, in order not to disturb Gu Jingzhou's work, he laughed and said to the guest: "When they see this, they will naturally understand. Actions speak louder than words." Regarding his own self-cultivation, Gu Jingzhou held himself to strict standards and remained upright throughout his life. Educational credentials seemed unimportant to him, but as a craftsman, Gu Jingzhou placed cultural learning at a higher priority than the craft of making teapots throughout his entire life. He never put down various classical poems, ancient texts, and historical classics, reading them every day. Whenever needed, he engaged in phased self-study of specialized knowledge in fields such as chemistry, English, and Russian. Even in his later years, he persisted in writing several pages of regular script calligraphy by hand each day. It was precisely this unwavering persistence, day after day for decades, that distinguished Gu Jingzhou from ordinary craftsmen through his exceptionally high classical literary cultivation and inner refinement. Besides his outstanding teapot artistry, among his friends were Wu Hufan, Jiang Hanting, and others.[1] Some say that Gu Jingzhou was a cultured person among craftspeople. --- [1] Note: The text appears to reference additional names that were partially cut off in the original Chinese text.