World-famous Jingdezhen Kiln
2 min readJingdezhen-the Porcelain Capital of China
The name of Jingdezhen（Jingde town）naturally reminds people of delicate porcelain wares and scalding kilns.For hundreds of years，this place has constantly provided porcelain products to all corners of the world，and has been irreplaceably connected with porcelain.
World-famous Jingdezhen Kiln
Evolution of Jingdezhen
The history of Jingdezhen has also been deeply imprinted by porcelain.One saying suggests that China is the transliteration of Chang’nan，the ancient name of Jingdezhen.Although there is no conclusive proof for this conjecture，it is an adequate example of the supreme status of Jingdezhen in the history of Chinese porcelain. The name Jingdezhen was set in the first year of Jingde in the Song dynasty, when the emperor was deeply attracted by the refined bluish-white ware produced at the town, and decided to name it with his reign title. Thereupon, the name Jingdezhen took shape, and has been used to the present.
Porcelain firing started in Jingdezhen as early as the Jin dynasty, but it was overshadowed by the Yue kiln and other kilns of the North. It was not until the Song dynasty with the economic centre shifting southwards that Jingdezhen started to get people’s attention by its delicate bluish-white porcelain. The establishment of Fuliang Porcelain Bureau in Jingdezhen by the Yuan government for official kilns inaugurated its indissoluble relationship with governments later on. Since the Ming and Qing dynasties, Jingdezhen took its advantage to recruit the mosttalented craftsmen from all over the country. As a result, it managed to congregate the best porcelain technologies to produce the most gorgeous porcelain, such as blue-and-white, contending colors and famille rose, and in turn became the leading porcelain kiln in China. Its status was further strengthened by the setup of Imperial Kiln Workshop during the Ming and Qing for exclusively producing porcelain for the court. In this way, it became the porcelain capital. Its function and reputation has survived political changeovers in history and will keep on in the future.
The evolution of Jingdezhen from an unknown small town to the world-famous porcelain capital relies on its time-honored porcelain producing history and the wisdom and effort of craftsmen from all over China. It is definitely a place that flourished and was famed due to porcelain firing.
One of important reasons for the rise of Jingdezhen is the attention given by the royal families in the past. Through the establishment of imperial porcelain workshop, we can see how important Jingdezhen is to them.
