Jingdezhen is a synonym for porcelain to Chinese people. The city was situated in the northeast part of Jianxi
Province in a small basin rich in fine kaolin. People there began to produce ceramics as early as in the Han
Dynasty (about AD 200). By the Jingde Period (AD 1004 - 1007), Emperor Zhengzong of the Song Dynasty, decreed
that this city 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 begin to call all chinaware bearing such inscriptions "porcelain
of Jingdezhen." The wares became so regarded - "as white as jade, as thin as paper, as bright as a mirror and
as tuneful as a bell." Jingdezhen retained official favour ever since.
The ceramic industry experienced further development at Jingdezhen during the Ming and Qing dynasties or from
14th to 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. Ceramic products became more artistic and be
purchased as a collectors item because the new products contain handcraft, writing, drawing, curving and poem.
Workshops experimented with new glazes and a classic range of decorative styles emerged: qinghua, blue and white;
jihong, rainbow; doucai, a blue and white over glaze; and fencai, multi-coloured family rose. The first examples
reached Europe in the 17th century, and became so popular that the English word for China clay - kaolin - derives
from its source at Gaoling, near Jingdezhen. Factories began to specialize in export ware shaped and decorated in
European-approved forms, which reached the outside world via the booming Canton markets.
Jingdezhen, the ancient ceramics center, has been regenerated with new vigour since the founding of New China.
It now boasts a ceramic research institute and a ceramic museum in addition to five kaolin quarries, and more than
fifteen porcelain factories.
As the leading center of porcelain industry in China, Jingdezhen has been put under state protection and also as
an important historical city. With more than one hundred historical buildings and cultural sites, it is a tourist
town to attract visitor for its products as well as its beauty.
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