Jingdezhen: Pottery Capital of China

For around 2,000 years Jingdezhen has reigned as the pottery capital of China. Since the time of the Song Dynasty (960-1279), exquisite porcelain wares were fired in the town's kilns for the Middle Kingdom's emperors. By the Renaissance, goods crafted by Jingdezhen's artisans were even reaching Europe. In fact Jingdezhen is so important to this country’s cultural history that, one theory goes, the city helped give China its European name. Most Europeans first encountered the Middle Kingdom through the ceramics it exported; Jingdezhen's ancient name – Changnan – became synonymous with this pottery and somewhere in the mists of time "Changnan" was transformed by Western tongues into "China".

Whatever the truth of its past, today Jingdezhen continues to play a key role in China's porcelain industry. This is where Beijing's Spin Ceramics shop produces its wares, and where Ai Weiwei employed 1,600 people for five years to make his 100 million sunflower seeds. And, in case you had any doubts that you’d come to the right place, the city planners have even decorated the lampposts and traffic lights with porcelain.

In the fantastic city Jingdezhen, you will have a look at the procedure of making porcelain crafts and the Ruins of Ancient Porcelain, which consists of the History Museum of Porcelains and an ancient porcelain mill. Besides, you could also visit the ancient porcelain street, which has 136 structures, including housing, shops, temples, archways, and roads, all in the Ming and Qing dynasties. During the visit you could also have a close look at the different phases of making pottery, which is a quite interesting activities and people could learn lots.

If you also would like to experience the long history of the pottery capital of China, enjoy the natural beauty of this town and learn more about making pottery, please click 7 days Indepth Jiangxi Tour http://www.chinaholidays.com/tours/indepth-jiangxi-tour.html. For more information on China tour, you could find more in Beijing Chinaholidays http://www.chinaholidays.com