Jingdezhen

Jingdezhen, formerly spelt Ching Teh Chen and known as the "Ceramics Metropolis" of China, is a synonym for Chinese porcelain.

Variably called Xinping or Changnanzhen in history, it is situated in the northeastern part of Jiangxi Province in a small basin rich in fine kaolin, hemmed in by mountains which keep it supplied with firewood from their conifers. People there began to produce ceramics as early as 1,800 years ago in the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the Jingde Period (1004-1007), Emperor Zhenzong of the the Song Dynasty. decreed that Changnanzhen should produce the porcelain used by the imperial court, with each inscribed at the bottom "Made in the Reign of Jingde." From then on people began to call all chinaware bearing such inscriptions "porcelain of Jingdezhen."

The ceramic industry experienced further development at Jingdezhen during the Ming and Qing dynasties or from the 14th to the 19th century, when skills became perfected and the general quality more refined; government kilns were set up to cater exclusively to the need of the imperial house.

Jingdezhen, the ancient ceramics metropolis, has been regenerated with new vigor since the founding of New China. It now boasts a ceramic research institute and a ceramic museum in addition to five kaolin quarries, 15 porcelain factories, two porcelain machinery plants, one porcelain chemical plant, two refractory materials factories and dozens of porcelain processing works.

The leading centre of the porcelain industry, Jingdezhen has been put under state protection also as an important historical city. With 133 ancient buildings and cultural sites, it is a tourist town attracting large numbers of visitors from home and abroad.

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Jingdezhen is a major producer of Chinese ceramics and one of the state-listed cultural and historical city, it situated on the eastern bank of the Yangtse River. Jingdezhen was known as the "porcelain city" since the Song dynasty, with a history of 1700 years porcelain-making.

With neighboring Areas Zhejiang, Fujian, Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, and Anhui provinces, Jingdezhen situated in the tropical hill area; topography descending from the northeast to southwest, most area in northeast and northwest dominated by mountains, and southeast and southwest by hills with mere latitude of 200m. Yangtze River (Chang River) and Le'an River are part of the water system of Boyang Lake, crossing the region from north to south.

Jingdezhen located in subtropical zone; featured the damp monsoon climate with 4 distinct seasons, sufficient sunlight and rainfall, long frost-free period. Its main products are tea, silkworm, paddy, soybean, wheat, peanut, cotton, rapeseed, gingili.

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The highlight of Jiangxi travel should be Jingdezhen, which is known as the "Capital of Porcelain" in China. Ceramics were produced here as early as 1,800 years ago in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Today, Jingdezhen remains a national center for porcelain production. While in this ancient town, tourists can visit many pottery factories and ancient kiln sites. In addition, Jiangxi is one of the ancient tea-producing areas in China. The Black Tea produced in Ningzhou City and the Green Tea produced in Wuyuan City are well-known throughout China.

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Jingdezhen Old Street :
Located at the junction where two rivers meet, the street was originally built in memory of a famous poet, Qu Yuan in the Tang dynasty. This was later rebuilt in the Ming and Qing dynasties. With hundreds of years of history behind it, the street is nonetheless, still well preserved today, flanked on its sides by stores, workshops and teahouses. The trodden flagstone pavement serves to act as a reminder of a history and a lifestyle long gone by our era.

Ceramic History Museum :
In the Jingdezhen Ceramic History Museum, visitors learn the history behind the city, famed for its ceramics. The museum houses not only ceramic artworks from different dynasties, which are of great value, but also ancient ceramic workshops. This is where visitors can learn the whole process of how ceramics were produced in the ancient times. Not only that, they can also have a go at making ceramics on their own.

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A Brief Introduction of Jingdezhen


Jingdezhen has a long history and a magnificent culture. It crouches on the south of the Yangtze River as a “Powerful Town on the South of the Yangtze River", and was listed with Foshan in Guangdong Province, Hankou in Hubei Province, and Zhuxianzhen in Henan Province as the four famous towns in Chinese history. It is designated one of the first 24 famous Chinese cities of historical and cultural interests and a first-rate city opening to the foreigners by China’s State Council. In June 1953, Chinese Administration approved Jingdezhen City as a municipality under the direct jurisdiction of Jiangxi Province. It now covers an area of 5256 square kilometers with a population of 1,520,000, including 400,000 urban residents. There are one city, one county and two districts under its jurisdiction: Leping City, Fuliang County, Zhushan District and Changjiang District.
Jingdezhen city lies in the Northeast of Jiangxi Province. To its Northwest is Dongzhi County of Anhui Province, to its south Wannian County, to its West Boyang County, and to its Southeast Wuyuan County. It is located in the transitional area between the Huangshan – Haiyushang mountain range and the Plain of Poyang Lake at longitudes 116°57'-117°42' east and latitudes 28°44'-29°56' south in the monsoon subtropical climate. It enjoys enough sunshine, sufficient rainfall, and a mild and moist climate, with clearly demarcated four seasons. It has beautiful scenery featured by a network of many rivers and streams and a chain of mountain peaks one rising higher than another. The city is 320 meters above sea level with an average temperature of 170C, an annual rainfall of 1763.5 millimeters, and average annual sunshine of 2009.8 hours.

As the world-famed ceramic capital, Jingdezhen City has a long history of ceramics making and a rich cultural heritage. In accordance with the historical records, “Xinping (as the city was known as then) began to make pottery in Han Dynasty”. It is evident that pottery was first made in Jingdezhen in Han Dynasty. In the first year in Jingde Reign of Song Dynasty (1004), the royal court decreed the city made porcelain wares for imperial use with the wording “Made during the Jingde Reign” printed on the bottom of every piece. Hence the city got its name “Jingdezhen”. From Yuan Dynasty to Ming and Qing Dynasty, emperors sent their officials to Jingdezhen to supervise the manufacture of royal porcelain. They set up the Porcelain Office and built the royal kiln, which produced many wonderful ceramic articles. Among them were those particularly famous for the four classic decorations: blue and white, famille rose, rice-pattern and color glaze. The Porcelain Wares for Chairman Mao Zedong, the Wares for the" APEC" and the Wares for tire Stale Hotel (Guesthouse) and other ceramic art works are all greatly appreciated in the world. The porcelain made in Jingdezhen enjoys the praise of "as white as jade, as thin as paper, as sound as a bell, as bright as a mirror" .Guo Moruo (the late famous historian and scholar) highly praised the brilliant ceramic history and culture in Jingdezhen and the ceramics connected the Jingdezhen to the world closely with the poem that "China is well known by the porcelain, the famous porcelains are made in this city."

The tourism resource of Jingdezhen is rich with deep connotation, and owns the special privilege including the ceramics culture, place of culture interest and ecological environment and so on, particularly in advantageous condition of the ceramics resource. There has been found more than 30 ceramics historical ruins, such as the famous ancient ceramic material producing area --Kaolin, which the worldly name of the clay of producing porcelain Kaolin was named' after, the ruin of Hutian ancient kiln, the ruin of the royal kilns in the Ming and Qing Dynasty and so on, which are, ranked in the National and Provincial Historical Relic's Protection Units, have the inference and attraction over the world. In Jingdezhen, there are many landscapes and sights, such as perfectly preserved the clusters of Ming and Qing Buildings, the houses group of the Anhui style, the ancient play stage, the ancient County Office in Fuliang which is known as the Number One in the south of the Yangtze River and the second in China, the old Sanlu Temple named after the Sanlu Daifu (the senior official of Kingdom Chu)--Quyuan, the Red Tower where the first emperor in Ming Dynasty-Zhu Yuanzha'ng hid in a battle, the platform to face upward to the virtuous in Yaoli, the fairyland in Hongyuan, the Sun Island, the Moon Lake, the Yangfu Temple, the Lijushan Mountain, the Jade Green Lake. Jingdezhen is also the area of glory revolutionary heritage, the famous Reorganization of the New Fourth Army ever happened in Yaoli town in Fuliang, Zhongpu Town in Leping was the cradle of the Red Tenth Army. In 1997, the National Tourism Administration commended the city to be one of the 35 trump sights in the 97' China tourism year.

Jingdezhen is rich in the natural resource, has good ecological environment. The main mineral products are porcelain stone, Kaolin, coal, tungsten, gold dust, cuprum, fluorite, sulphur, limestone, marble etc. Especially the deposits of porcelain stone, Kaolin is very abundance, and the reserves verified at present can be exploited for over 300 years. The coverage race of forest in the whole city reaches 60.9%, which is the important forest area in Jiangxi Province. About 50 kilometers far away from the downtown there are primary forests where inhabit many bears, tigers and monkeys and so on, and grow the yew and other rare trees. In Fuliang County, the villages in Yaoli Town and in Ehu Town are enveloped in the cloud and mist all round the year. In history, the special local products in Jingdezhen were:” The first is porcelain, tea goes secondary". Tea is one of the famous products in Jingdezhen. As early as the Tang Dynasty, Jingdezhen was the important tea-distributing center all over the country, the poem "Pipa (lute) Row " by the famous poet Bai Juyi said that "The businessman pays more attention to the huge profit than his family, last month he went to Fuliang for tea ". At that time, the tax revenue of tea from Jingdezhen occupied 3/8 in the whole tax revenue of tea of the country. The tea "Fuhong (Redfu)" owns a long-standing international reputation, ever was awarded the golden prize in the Panamanian World Fair in 1915. The famous brand green tea with high-quality, "Deyu Living Tea", "Cliff Jade in Yaoli", "Immortal Tea as glossy ganoderma at Jasper Lake" have been developed and cultivated in these years sold well in the market. The "Deyu Living Tea" has been selected to be used in the Great Hall of the People as the special offered tea and the state banquet tea.

Jingdezhen has a superior investment environment. It Iies in the "golden triangle" economic area of Nanchang, Jiujiang and Jingdezhen, situating in the boundary of three provinces of Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Anhui, and locates the center point of the hot line of national tourist-the Lushan Mountain, the Huangshan Mountain, the Longhushan Mountain, the Jiuhuashan Mountain, the Sanqingshan Mountain, the Poyang Lake, the Qiandao (Thousands of Islands)Lake (The above mentioned interests are all within the distance about 150 to 200 kilometers). After reforming and opening to the world for more than 20 years, the infrastructure turns to better and better. The supply of water, power, gas is sufficient, the teleconimunieation has benn modernized with optic fiber, internet and digital and the traffic networks extend in all directions. The railway of Jiangxi to Anhui and the national highway No. 206 runs through the city, the Jingdezhen-Jiujiang expressway shortens the distance between the city Wuhan, Nanchang and other cities,the airline connects it with Peking, Shanghai, Guangzhou and etc, Changjiang River of the city can get its waterways to Poyang Lake then into Yangtze River. The modern transportation Network with waterways, highways and railways, airlines have formed. The city ‘s face is changing with each passing day. With the construction of the 6 main highways in the city, the city's feature changed greatly. The culture and museum area, the ecology area and the modern area have not only combined into a whole with their own characteristics but also support and connect with one another. At the same time, Jingdezhen municipal administration has been paying much attention to developing the soft environment for the economic development. It has laid down a series of policies and measures such as "Several Policies and Measures of Emancipating the Mind further, Extending to Open, Accelerating the Development", "the Preferential Measures for Encouraging Investors outside to Invest and Cooperate in our City". "Several Measures to Protect the Investor outside", "Cases of Reward to intermediary of the Investing outside" and so on, The government has set up the service hall to handle all kinds of certificates, carrying out the opening to the outside in a door, the service in a station, the charging in a window. All these measures have created a better condition for the development of the private economy and for the guests at home and abroad who come here for investment business, tourism or sight-seeing.

Jingdezhen is one of the important modern industrial bases in Jiangxi Province. The ceramic industry has come into such a system that the production of daily-use porcelain takes the principal part and the art ceramic, construction ceramic, the industrial ceramic and the electronic ceramic and so on are also evaluative together and co-developing. It has become the important ceramic producing and exporting base and the scientific research center in China. Meanwhile the infant industry is booming, which has formed such lines as the automobile, machinery, electron; medicine, chemistry, building materials food and other industries. At present, the total output of the infant industry has accounted for over 90% in the whole industry of the city, becoming the important mainstay in the city's economy. There are a batch of strong enterprises (groups) in the city such as the Change Aircraft Industry (Group) Company Limited, the Hay Electric Appliance General Company the Printing Machinery Works, the Coking Gasworks, the Jiangxi Chemical Fiber and Chemical Engineering Co. Ltd, the Dongfang Pharmaceutical Co.Ltd, the Deyu Group Corp. and so on.

Now, the people in the city take the inspection of the General Secretary Jiang Zemin as the motive force, according to the Secretary of C.C.P Provincial Party Committee--Meng Jianzhu's general imagination--"Regenerate the city's strong power, become a powerful economic city artd a tourism city which combined the historical culture and the modern civilization together in the south of Yangtze River", carry forward the spirit of Jinggangshan Mountain energetically, steadily increase with each passing hour, work hard and pursue strongly, advance the industrialization, urbanization, informationization all-sidedly, struggle hard in order to turn Jingdezhen into a rich, civilized modernized mountains and rivers (landscape) ecological garden city.

Picutrue Links

Ceramic History Museum
Old kiln relics
Dragon Kiln

See Japanese version