AN EPIC OF EARTH, FIRE AND DREAMS

BEIJING, July 28, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A report from China Daily

In ports as far as in Egypt and Kenya, discoveries of bluish-white Chinese porcelain shards from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) may prompt people today to imagine an epic of craftsmanship and a grand picture of the Maritime Silk Road overcoming waves and time.

The shards came from Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, often dubbed "China's capital of ceramics".

In 1004, impressed by the porcelain offered as tribute from the then-Changnan town, Song emperor Zhenzong bestowed one of his reigning names, "Jingde", upon the town.

There, an epic of earth and fire began.

In the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Zhu Yuanzhang, founding emperor of the Ming, ordered the construction of the Imperial Kiln Factory at an established site in the town to produce ceramic wares used exclusively by royalty. The unqualified products would be broken and buried. More than one million pieces of porcelain waste were estimated to have piled up in the following centuries.

Thus, Zhushan Hill rose in downtown Jingdezhen. Only 48 meters above sea level, it stands as a testament to the history of Chinese ceramics.

Beyond imperial solemnity, crisscrossing streets bathed in wisps of smoke mark the prosperity of the era's ceramics industry throughout society.

At the Guanyinge, an ancient kiln site in Jingdezhen, archaeological excavations have yielded a large complex of civilian kilns. Walking through today's farmlands, visitors easily bump into researchers' latest discoveries over the past two years: well-protected accumulations of kiln waste from the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) to the Ming era.

Putting these fragments of legends together is also like restoring a piece of porcelain. This masterpiece now glitters again on a wide stage — on Saturday, the Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites became China's latest entry on the World Heritage List during the 48th Session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO in Busan, South Korea.

The industry sites include porcelain production workshops in town areas and raw material hubs in the wild, as well as their historical environment, such as transportation networks and old city neighborhoods, with 45 components scattered across the 1,979-hectare property.

"They integrally preserve the representative kilns, workshops and other production facilities of all stages of the development of Jingdezhen handicraft porcelain technology from the 10th to 19th centuries," says Wei Qing, the main drafter of the application for World Heritage status.

According to Wei, no other property was previously inscribed on the World Heritage List for porcelain production, though some sites featured elements related to the theme.

"Silk, tea and porcelain were all important commodities in ancient China's commercial trade overseas," says Wei.

"Tea was consumed, silk decayed, but ceramics — tempered through various chemical reactions — endured for ages."

Evolving wisdom

Since 2002, Wang Guangyao, an archaeologist at the Palace Museum in Beijing, has hosted excavations on the Imperial Kiln Factory and other key kiln sites in Jingdezhen.

Thanks to his team's efforts, the city's past glory has emerged not only from documentation but also from physical evidence.

"Based on studies of the strata, clear and accurate age information obtained from the sites presents authentic scenarios of porcelain production facilities and their environments over various periods," Wang says.

"Perhaps there is no other place in the world that yields such a perfect sample of the continuous evolution of porcelain production technology," Wang says.

The Luomaqiao kiln site, part of the World Heritage listing, has revealed a Ming Dynasty gourd-shaped kiln unique to Jingdezhen, which drew on features of northern China's dome-shaped kilns and southern China's dragon-shaped kilns.

This design was later refined into the egg-shaped kiln, which could efficiently fire various types of porcelain simultaneously.

Along with the upgrading of kilns came the evolution of products.

From the Song Dynasty bluish-white porcelain to the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368) blue-and-white ceramics, and from the Ming Dynasty painted porcelain to the Qing Dynasty famille rose and enamel porcelain, Jingdezhen provided a procession of porcelain varieties that delighted people worldwide.

Wang explains: "Normally, when speaking of famous kilns elsewhere, we consider the typical style of its products, but Jingdezhen has ceaselessly produced ceramics for nearly a millennium. So, when thinking of its typical style, the answers may vary."

According to him, the porcelain trade became highly profitable in the late Tang Dynasty (618–907), and Jingdezhen artisans then wanted to claim their share of the market. They studied the popular wares of each era, absorbed their strengths, and refined their own techniques accordingly.

"It is this spirit of tolerance and innovation that has kept Jingdezhen kilns burning," he says.

Archaeology also helps those buried shards complete their unfinished journey. From 2015 to 2020, Wang helped organize a series of comparative exhibitions in the Palace Museum. Also known as the Forbidden City, the museum was China's former imperial palace, where the royal-qualified products of the Imperial Kiln Factory were taken.

The unearthed Jingdezhen wares, restored from deliberately broken objects, and their long-separated brothers — the intact porcelains with identical patterns in the royal collection — were juxtaposed in the same gallery.

"Firing a kiln was very difficult. In some ways, it was like opening a blind box," Wang says.

Even when every procedure — 72 steps in total, according to ancient documents — was done successfully, only about one-third of the products from the kiln would be qualified for royal use.

"Thanks to the archaeological findings in Jingdezhen, people have a deeper understanding of the extant treasures in the Forbidden City and elsewhere," Wang says.

Archaeological efforts at civilian kilns, such as Guanyinge and Luomaqiao, have unearthed artifacts with features showing they were also made to exclusively serve the royal family, indicating the close interactions between imperial and civilian workshops.

Firing tasks that the Imperial Kiln Factory could not finish on schedule were allocated to civilian kilns, according to Weng Yanjun, director of the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Institute.

"Therefore, the formulas and techniques once strictly controlled by the imperial factory entered their civilian counterparts, boosting the overall production level in Jingdezhen," Weng says.

According to him, archaeological research over the past decades has helped establish "a gene bank" of various types of porcelain.

Since 2022, the database has collected key information about ancient porcelain pieces, including their patterns, styles, base materials, and glaze.

"They are not only benchmarks for academic research, but also references for revitalizing cultural traditions," says Weng.

In 2016, people witnessed Xujiayao, the biggest surviving kiln from ancient Jingdezhen, re-ignited after decades of disuse. Hu Jiawang, then 72, played a major role in making this centuries-old kiln fire again.

"It shows our emphasis on ancient crafts and endeavors in keeping them alive," says Hu, a national-level inheritor of Jingdezhen traditional kiln and workshop making techniques.

As a veteran craftsman, in addition to building the kilns, Hu is also responsible for controlling the kilns' fire, which largely determines what comes out of the blind box.

His unique technique is to spit on the firewood. He tells the temperature by observing how saliva evaporates and the fire color changes.

"Porcelain-making is an art of fire," says Hu. "Before modern equipment, we relied on hands-on experience passed down through mentorship and built upon continuous improvement; that's how we have come this far."

As time went by, modern electric kilns appeared. Accuracy has improved, but in many collectors' eyes, the natural luster and hue of handmade products still prevail.

However, Hu kept an open mind.

"Only through ceaseless evolution can the products meet modern needs, maintain vitality, and continue to move forward," he says.

A global inspiration

Since 2018, Wang from the Palace Museum has also led an archaeological program on ancient port ruins in Ras al-Khaimah, the United Arab Emirates. As a veteran porcelain researcher, he can easily tell that some shards on the shore of the Persian Gulf arrived from somewhere familiar.

The blue-and-white porcelain pieces produced in the Imperial Kiln Factory, probably a Ming emperor's gifts, demonstrate the connection between the Ming Dynasty and the region.

More Jingdezhen products have been found in large numbers in shipwrecks and seaside sites across East, Southeast and South Asia, serving as evidence of booming maritime trade.

In 2023, Chinese researchers made another milestone deep-sea discovery of two mid-Ming shipwrecks on the northwestern continental slope of the South China Sea. Not to Wang's surprise, the No 1 shipwreck's cargo was almost full of Jingdezhen exports.

"Jingdezhen products were tested in the market and showcased their value," Wang says. "It also tells of the inclusive nature of the city's porcelain industry."

Traces of the imperial kiln style can be seen on many pieces produced by the Jingdezhen civilian kilns for export. However, to better meet the demand of overseas markets, the city's artisans during the Age of Exploration (15th century to 17th century) often switched from traditional Chinese aesthetics to so-called Kraak Porcelains. Named after a merchant ship that first created its popularity in Amsterdam, this variety had patterns specially designed for the European market.

Based on recent excavations, Guanyinge was the main hub for making these export-tailored products.

"Traded porcelain from Jingdezhen became a vehicle of Chinese culture and an important symbol of art from the East," explains Wei, the application drafter.

For example, the Jingdezhen blue-and-white porcelain was a key element in the chinoiserie that was popular in European decorative arts in the 17th and 18th centuries.

European nobility became collectors of Chinese porcelain, and many famous palaces feature "Chinese rooms". The artistic characteristics of Jingdezhen porcelain were then widely imitated by European workshops.

On the other hand, as Wei points out, technologies in Jingdezhen during the 13th to 19th centuries also combined traditional Chinese porcelain-making with pigments from the Middle East and Europe, blending Chinese and overseas decorative techniques.

That was how the iconic blue-and-white, enamel and famille-rose porcelains were created. "It's the meaning of mutual learning among cultures," Wei says.

Impetus for urban growth

It is not easy to find one's direction in the maze-like old neighborhood of Jingdezhen by the Changjiang River. Locals have a suggestion: Find the alley with xianong (lower lane) in its name. All eventually lead to the river.

Old porcelain workshops hide in the streets, and the ancient piers that once witnessed the hustle and bustle of porcelain cargo are quiet, but the locals' hearts still hold pride for their past.

Growing up near the Luomaqiao kiln site, which has operated for 800 years, Xiong Wenbo, 54, is now a leading porcelain painter in the city.

"Top-tier artisans once gathered here, but many people left no name," he says. "The industry rose and fell, and the handicraft also faced difficulties.

"Bidding for World Heritage status offered a precious opportunity to better review our past and prolong our cultural lineage," he says. "It's great to see the 'fresh' faces of the city."

Saying "fresh", he by no means refers to the old neighborhood giving way to modern urban construction. On the contrary, these communities that benefited from porcelain centuries ago were renovated to maintain their original aesthetics.

Walking through the alleys, people now recall many long-forgotten links in the industry chain from the old days: a trade house, a paddy straw packaging shop, a pigment shop, and a place to handle defective products.

"We have carried out systematic projects to restore the valuable old buildings and decorated them in their original styles, following historical records and local people's memories," says Cheng Tong, a designer in charge of the city's urban renewal. "In this way, traces of ancient life can still be found in modern neighborhoods."

To get a full picture of Jingdezhen, archaeologist Wang's horizon has expanded beyond the kilns. A series of urban archaeology projects was launched in the alleyways and transportation network, unveiling some lesser-known but equally important elements for the World Heritage status.

"Porcelains turned a small town into a business center, but life here is more than that," Wang says. "We've gained more knowledge about society, the relationship between humans and the environment, as well as people's beliefs and migration."

At the Siwang Temple, people pray for patronage from local deities who oversee the waters in Jiangxi. The Mazu Temple, where the goddess of sailors of the sea was honored, offers wishes for safety and prosperity.

"People would take Jingdezhen products and travel along the Changjiang River, then the Yangtze River, and eventually the ocean," Wang says.

"The global journey of the products started here, in the alleys."

Wei adds that the Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites also reshape the understanding of China's agrarian society.

"Jiangxi, in ancient times, had a deeply rooted farming culture that could also breed an industrial system featuring openness, strong mobility, and market-driven dynamics," he says. "It conveys that ancient China also has a strong outward-looking dimension."

Today, an estimated 60,000 artisans and artists from elsewhere in China and even from overseas are living in Jingdezhen to pursue their porcelain dreams. Fire may no longer burn the old way, but some ethos lingers no matter how much time changes.

"Jingdezhen is not a time capsule frozen at a single point in history, but rather a window which continuously unfolds," says Weng, the institute director.

"Today, many people live as porcelain professionals in the city. Here, cultural exchange, creation, and innovation are still going."

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SOURCE China Daily