Vessel of culture

Ancient kilns in a park in Jingdezhen in Jiangxi province display the historical legacy of porcelain production.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Jingdezhen has for centuries remained a receptacle of Chinese porcelain culture. The city lures artists from home and abroad, who flock to China's china capital to create. 

Perhaps nothing better represents China than china. And perhaps no place represents China's china better than Jiangxi province's Jingdezhen, hailed as the country's "porcelain capital" since ancient times.

Travelers visit the city's ancient kilns in a park that displays the historical legacy surrounding the settlement's porcelain production.

I was stunned to see an elderly man effortlessly carry about six-dozen bowls on a specially made wooden shelf.

Then I watched Wang Yansheng spin a lump of yellow clay into a bowl at the park's production-demonstration site. The man in his late 70s started making porcelain at age 11 and has devoted his life to the trade.

"What matters most is perseverance and the pursuit of perfection," Wang says.

He explains he's still learning and innovating.

The demonstration site is nestled in a nearly 200-meter-long alley.

It shows each step, including shaping, trimming and painting.

Wang Shenfang, who has painted unfired pieces for three decades, decorates ceramic works with tea flowers and sickles with quick flicks of her brush. Her brush seems to dance as she finishes a bowl in about half a minute.

The park houses kilns from the Qing (1644-1911), Ming (1368-1644), Yuan (1271-1368) and Song (960-1279) dynasties. The gray-brick furnaces are fired up for demos on Cultural Heritage Day on the second Saturday of June and the Jingdezhen International Ceramic Fair every Oct 18-20.

The park also hosts porcelain musical-instrument performances.

Jingdezhen's historical legacy draws contemporary artists from around the world. They congregate in Dongshi district, where they operate studios and galleries in a modern porcelain plant.

Many foreigners come during the April-July and September-October periods, a plant worker says.