Jingdezhen is a

prefecture-level city A prefecture-level city () or prefectural city is an administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China (PRC), ranking below a province of China, province and above a Counties of the People's Republic of China, county in China's ...

in eastern Jiangxi province with a total population of 1,669,057 (2018), bordering

Anhui Anhui is an inland Provinces of China, province located in East China. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze and Huai rivers, bordering Jiangsu and Zhejiang to the east, Jiang ...

to the north. It is known as the "

Porcelain Porcelain (), also called china, is a ceramic material made by heating Industrial mineral, raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between . The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to oth ...

Capital" because it has been producing Chinese ceramics for at least 1,000 years, and for much of that period Jingdezhen porcelain was the most important and finest quality in China. The city has a well-documented history that stretches back over 2,000 years.

History

Throughout both the Spring and Autumn period and the

Warring States period The Warring States period in history of China, Chinese history (221 BC) comprises the final two and a half centuries of the Zhou dynasty (256 BC), which were characterized by frequent warfare, bureaucratic and military reforms, and ...

, the area of present-day Jingdezhen belonged to the Chu State. After the fall of the Chu, the area was incorporated into the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

as part of Fan County ( zh, labels=no, s=番县, t=, p=) in . Under the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

, the area belonged to Poyang County ( zh, labels=no, s=鄱阳县, t=, p=) in . Under the Han dynasty, the particular area of future Jingdezhen was known as Xinping ( zh, labels=no, s=新平, t=, p=). Historical records show that it was during this time that it began to make porcelain. The town was established during the Jin dynasty under the name Changnan ( zh, labels=no, s=昌南, t=, p=), due to its location on the south bank of the Chang river. The town's name would be changed twice, first in 742 CE to Fuliang ( zh, labels=no, s=浮梁, t=, p=), and then in 1004 to Jingdezhen, its current name, after the era name of the Emperor Zhenzong of

Song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

during whose reign its porcelain production first rose to fame. The town was placed under the jurisdiction of Fuliang County. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, Jingdezhen was considered one of China's four great towns in terms of commercial and industrial importance. The others were Foshan in

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

, Hankou in

Hubei Hubei is a province of China, province in Central China. It has the List of Chinese provincial-level divisions by GDP, seventh-largest economy among Chinese provinces, the second-largest within Central China, and the third-largest among inland ...

, and Zhuxian in Henan. In 1855 during the Taiping Rebellion, Taiping forces destroyed all 9,000 kilns in Jingdezhen. They would be rebuilt after the war in 1866. In the 19th century, Jingdezhen became a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

. On April 29, 1949, Communist forces took the city. On May 4, 1949, it was upgraded to a prefecture city. However, to honor its history, Jingdezhen retained it the word ''zhen'' meaning ''

town A town is a type of a human settlement, generally larger than a village but smaller than a city. The criteria for distinguishing a town vary globally, often depending on factors such as population size, economic character, administrative stat ...

'' in its name. Usually when a town is upgraded to a city, the designation of ''shi'' meaning ''city'' replaces that of ''zhen''. In June 1953 Jindezhen was upgraded into a provincial level city. In 1960, Fuliang County was merged into the city. Jingdezhen was named one of top 24 national historical and cultural cities of the People's Republic of China on February 28, 1982. In July 1983, Leping County was also merged into the city. In October 1988, Fuliang County was re-established, and in September 1992, Leping County was re-established as a

county-level city A county-level city () is a County-level divisions of China, county-level administrative division of the China, People's Republic of China. County-level cities have judiciary, judicial but no legislature, legislative rights over their own local or ...

. In 2004, Jingdezhen celebrated the millennium of its becoming the porcelain capital and it is assuming its present name. Due to the relatively low cost of living and the heritage of the porcelain industry, Jingdezhen has become a haven for young artists from all over China, who are often referred to known as Jingpiao (景漂).

Geography

Jingdezhen is situated in the north-east of Jiangxi and borders on

; the city center area is located in the north-east of the Poyang Lake Plain. Its area is . The highest point is , with plains on the southern part having an average altitude of . There are some cities and counties between Jiangxi and Anhui Province around Jingdezhen. To its north, northwest and northeast are Dongzhi, Xiuning, and Qimen County of Anhui province. To its south are Wannian County and Yiyang County. To its west is Boyang County. Lastly, to its southeast are Wuyuan County and Dexing City. The prefecture's natural resources include kaolin, coal,

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

, and lime. Although various forms of kaolin has since been found around the world, it was the Jingdezhen kilns who first perfected its use in combination with petuntse to create world-class hard-paste porcelain. The name "kaolin" itself derives from the French

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

d'Entrecolles's transcription of the local term (), taken from Gaoling (, ), a village in Ehu Town in Fuliang County that provided most of the city's kaolin during the early and mid-Qing dynasty.

Climate

Jingdezhen has a

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

''Cfa'') affected by the East Asian monsoon, with long, humid, very hot summers and cool and drier winters with occasional cold snaps. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from in January to in July, with an annual average of . The average annual precipitation is . With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 25% in March to 56% in August, the city receives 1,798 hours of bright sunshine annually. Winter begins somewhat sunny and dry but becomes progressively wetter and cloudier; spring begins especially gloomy, and from March to July each of the months averages more than of rainfall. Summer is the sunniest season here, while autumn remains warm to mild and relatively dry. Extreme maximum temperatures of above have been recorded, as have extreme minimums below .

Administrative divisions

The city of Jingdezhen is divided into 4 county-level divisions: Zhushan District, Changjiang District, Fuliang County, and the

of Leping. These 4 county-level divisions administer 52 township-level divisions, and 687 village-level divisions.

Porcelain

Jingdezhen may have produced

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

as early as the sixth century CE, though it is named after the reign name of Emperor Zhenzong, in whose reign it became a major kiln site, around 1004. By the 14th century it had become the largest centre of production of Chinese porcelain, which it has remained, increasing its dominance in subsequent centuries. For several centuries, almost all top quality Chinese porcelain has come from the town. From the Ming period onwards, official kilns in Jingdezhen were controlled by the emperor, making "imperial porcelain" in large quantity for the court and the emperor to give as gifts. Although apparently an unpromising location for potteries, being a remote town in a hilly region, Jingdezhen is close to the best quality deposits of petuntse, more contemporarily called pottery stone, in China, as well as being surrounded by forests, mostly of pine, providing wood for the kilns. It also has a river leading to river systems flowing north and south, facilitating transport of fragile wares. The imperial kilns were in the centre of the city at Zhushan (Pearl Hill), with many other kilns four kilometres away at Hutian. It has produced a great variety of pottery and porcelain, for the Chinese market and as Chinese export porcelain, but its best-known high quality porcelain wares have been successively Qingbai ware in the Song and Yuan dynasties, blue and white porcelain from the 1330s, and the " famille rose" and other "famille" colours under the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. The town continues to produce cheaper tablewares in great quantity, as well as more expensive decorative pieces. During the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

, Jingdezhen produced a large number of porcelain Mao badges and statues of a seated

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

. Jingdezhen porcelain has fetched record prices at auctions, with a blue and white porcelain jar produced during the

Yuan dynasty The Yuan dynasty ( ; zh, c=元朝, p=Yuáncháo), officially the Great Yuan (; Mongolian language, Mongolian: , , literally 'Great Yuan State'), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after Div ...

auctioning for $27.7 million in London in 2005, and a porcelain cup produced during the

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...

auctioning for $36.3 million in 2014. File:Jingdezhen soft paste porcelain flower holder Famille Rose 1736 1796 Qianlong period.jpg, Jingdezhen soft paste porcelain flower holder, " Famille Rose", 1736–1796, Qianlong period File:Jingdezhen blue and white plate Yuan period mid 14th century.jpg, Jingdezhen blue and white plate, mid-14th century File:Porcelain plate - Jingdezhen.jpg, Early Kangxi 17th century, Jingdezhen Ware, Nantoyōsō Collection, Japan File:Ming plate 15th century Jingdezhen kilns Jiangxi.jpg, Ming plate with grape design, 15th century, Jingdezhen kilns, Jiangxi,

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

File:Chinese - Wine Jar with Carp among Water Weeds and Lotuses - Walters 491917 - View G.jpg, ''Wine Jar with Carp among Water Weeds and Lotuses'', 16th century, The Walters Art Museum

Economy

Jingdezhen serves as an important industrial and commercial base in Jiangxi Province. In 2018, Jingdezhen achieved a GDP of 92.611 billion yuan. Of this, 6.62% of the city's GDP came from its primary sector, 44.22% came from its secondary sector, and the remaining 49.16% came from its tertiary sector. As of 2018, the per capita disposable income of urban residents in the city is ¥37,183, which ranks third among prefecture-level divisions in Jiangxi (behind Nanchang and Xinyu). Per capita disposable income for rural residents for 2018 is ¥16,510, which ranks fourth among prefecture-level divisions in Jiangxi (behind Pingxiang, Xinyu, and Nanchang). For 2018, the city's public budget revenue was ¥8.98555 billion, and its public budget expenditure was ¥20.43550 billion.

Industry

There are some important industrial enterprises in Jingdezhen City, such as Changhe Aircraft Industries Corporation; Jingdezhen Ceramics; Jingdezhen Refrigeration Compressor, etc. Changhe Aircraft Industries Corporation, a subsidiary of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China, is based in Jingdezhen. The firm, established in 1969, mainly sells helicopters to the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

, but also does business with firms such as

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

, Sikorsky, and Leonardo. Changhe produces aircraft parts for the Boeing 767-300BCF. Jiangxi Changhe Automobile Co Ltd, commonly known as Changhe, is an automotive firm owned by BAIC Group which is based in the city. The firm is forecast to produce 53,400 vehicles in 2019. Jingdezhen Ceramics Co Ltd ( zh, labels=no, s=景德镇陶瓷股份有限公司, t=, p=) is a joint venture with a French company and is most famous of Jingdezhen's ceramic companies. In February 2002, then- CCP General Secretary

Jiang Zemin Jiang Zemin (17 August 1926 – 30 November 2022) was a Chinese politician who served as General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party, general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1989 to 2002, as Chairman of the Central Mil ...

presented a porcelain set produced by the company under its Hongye ( zh, labels=no, s=红叶, t=, p=) brand to U.S. President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...

. Jingdezhen Refrigeration Compressor Company is well known in China for its non-Eph refrigeration compressor. It holds a 20% share of its market in China.

Agriculture

Jingdezhen is a major agricultural center in Jiangxi, with extensive rice cultivation within its boundaries. The area is also an important producer of commodity grain, pigs, and cotton. In Fuliang County there are some large-scale tea plantations and processing facilities. The tea of Fuliang County is well known in China. Bai Juyi, a famous poet of

Tang dynasty The Tang dynasty (, ; zh, c=唐朝), or the Tang Empire, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 618 to 907, with an Wu Zhou, interregnum between 690 and 705. It was preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed ...

China, wrote a poem that says "My merchant loved money more than family, he left me to go to Fuliang to buy tea last month". This suggests that one thousand years ago Fuliang was already well known for its tea. In 1915, Fuliang's "Fuhong" brand tea won a golden prize in Panama–Pacific International Exposition. Leping City, the "Vegetable Township of South China", is a major vegetable growing and processing area for Jiangxi Province even for China. Its vegetable output and sales are important to the agricultural economy of Jiangxi Province. In 2007, Leping had 1.7 million hectares under cultivation that produced a total output of 620,000 tons. The Agriculture Ministry of China also designated Leping as a demonstration zone for "pollution-free" vegetable production.

Transportation

Jingdezhen is the most important transportation hub in the northeast region of Jiangxi province. Historically, Jingdezhen's main communication route was via the Chang River. It could ship its porcelain down the Chang to Poyang Lake and connected there with the Yangtze River in Hukou County, Jiangxi Province. From there the porcelain could get to the coast for export. Today, the city is connected to the rest of China via road, rail, and air.

Road

* G35, running from

Jinan Jinan is the capital of the province of Shandong in East China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is one of the largest cities in Shandong in terms of population. The area of present-day Jinan has played an important role in the history of ...

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Canton or Kwangchow, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Guangdong Provinces of China, province in South China, southern China. Located on the Pearl River about nor ...

, * G56 Hangzhou-Ruili Highway from Hangzhou,

Zhejiang ) , translit_lang1_type2 = , translit_lang1_info2 = ( Hangzhounese) ( Ningbonese) (Wenzhounese) , image_skyline = 玉甑峰全貌 - panoramio.jpg , image_caption = View of the Yandang Mountains , image_map = Zhejiang i ...

to Ruili,

Yunnan Yunnan; is an inland Provinces of China, province in Southwestern China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 47.2 million (as of 2020). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the Chinese provinces ...

, * G206, running from Yantai, Shandong to Shantou, Guangdong.

Rail

The Anhui–Jiangxi Railway connects Jingdezhen to many key cities in China such as Shanghai,

Nanjing Nanjing or Nanking is the capital of Jiangsu, a province in East China. The city, which is located in the southwestern corner of the province, has 11 districts, an administrative area of , and a population of 9,423,400. Situated in the Yang ...

, Qingdao,

Hefei Hefei is the Capital city, capital of Anhui, China. A prefecture-level city, it is the political, economic, and cultural center of Anhui. Its population was 9,369,881 as of the 2020 census. Its built-up (or ''metro'') area is made up of four u ...

Fuzhou Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...

, Xiamen, Nanchang, Kunming and Guiyang, etc. In addition, the

Jiujiang Jiujiang, formerly transliterated Kiukiang and Kew-Keang, is a prefecture-level city located on the southern shores of the Yangtze River in northwest Jiangxi Province in the People's Republic of China. It is the second-largest prefecture-level ...

- Jingdezhen- Quzhou Railway is under construction. In the near future, the two rail lines will intersect in Jingdezhen, and make the city an important rail transportation hub in Jiangxi Province and East China. The Jingdezhen Railway Station is located in the city center and is under the control of the Nanchang Railway Bureau.

Air

Jingdezhen Luojia Airport is located at Luojian Village, northwest of Jingdezhen city, and about from the city's downtown. CAAC statistics show that in 2008 Jingdezhen Airport served 189,256 passengers, 81st among all Chinese airports. Annual cargo and mail traffic was 119.8 tons; annual landings were 2,424, ranking 111st and 91st respectively in China. There are flights from Jingdezhen to Beijing( CA), Shanghai( ZH), Guangzhou( ZH), Shenzhen( ZH), Chengdu( CA), Hangzhou( MU), Fuzhou( ZH), Kunming( MU), Xiamen( CA), Xi'an( ZH). There are no international flights. Jingdezhen Airport is the second largest airport in Jiangxi Province. The largest is at Nanchang.

Local transit

There was only one bus line in Jingdezhen before the 1980s, which was from Huang-ni-tou to Nan-men-tou with a total line distance of . In that time, the city had no taxi service and the buses were channel-type bus, it could carry more than one hundred passengers at most at the same time. This kinds of buses were renewed when they were operated to the end of 1990s. Currently, Jingdezhen public buses and taxis are the two main means of transportation within the city. Nearly more than 20 public bus lines crisscross the city and its countryside. Taxis in Jingdezhen are plentiful; fares start at ¥8 for the first .

Education

Jingdezhen has 4

higher education Tertiary education (higher education, or post-secondary education) is the educational level following the completion of secondary education. The World Bank defines tertiary education as including universities, colleges, and vocational schools ...

institutions, 110

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

s, 328

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

s, and 4

special education Special education (also known as special-needs education, aided education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, and SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates their individual di ...

schools. The city's 4 higher education institutions are the Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute (JCI), , Jiangxi Ceramic Arts and Crafts Vocational and Technical College ( zh, labels=no, s=江西陶瓷工艺美术职业技术学院, t=, p=), and Jingdezhen Ceramic Vocational and Technical College ( zh, labels=no, s=景德镇陶瓷职业技术学院, t=, p=). Among the city's secondary schools is the No.1 Middle School of Jingdezhen, which was founded in 1940. It is famous for its success rate, relative to other schools in Jiangxi Province, in placing its students in Chinese colleges.

Public health

Jingdezhen has more than 20 medical service institutions with a total 2182 beds. Doctors and nurses number 2,672. It has the largest hospital system in the north-east of Jiangxi Province. The No.1, No.2 and No.3 People's Hospital of Jingdezhen are the most important hospitals in the city; the No.4 People's Hospital is a psychiatric hospital.

Tourism

Travel Overview

Jingdezhen is a major tourism destination within Jiangxi Province, receiving 85.063 million tourists in 2018. Many of the city's tourist attractions are related to the city's famous ceramics, including the , a 5A tourist attraction. Jingdezhen also has 8 4A tourist attractions, and 14 3A tourist attractions. The city also provides access to nearby popular tourist areas such as Lushan, Huangshan, and Wuyuan. At present, Jingdezhen has the most tourist hotels of any city in Jiangxi Province. In the city there is one quasi-five-star hotel, two four-star hotels, and many three-star and other common grade hotels.

Twin towns – sister cities

* :
Safi
, Maroc * : Arita, Saga, Japan * : Seto, Aichi, Japan * : Icheon,

Gyeonggi-do Gyeonggi Province (, ) is the most populous administrative divisions of South Korea, province in South Korea. Seoul, the nation's largest city and capital, is in the heart of the area but has been separately administered as a list of provinc ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

* : Redbridge, London, UK * :

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

, South Holland, Netherlands * : Door County, Wisconsin, US

Domestic

* Chaoyang District, Beijing * Dongcheng District, Beijing * Shenzhen, Guangdong

References

* Curtis, Julia B., Stephen Little & Mary Ann Rogers, ''Trade taste and transformation, Jingdezhen porcelain for Japan, 1620–1645'', New York, China Institute Gallery, 2006.

External links

Official site of the Jingdezhen Government
(Languages: English, Chinese)

Footnotes

References

*Krahl, Regina, "Jingdezhen" '' Grove Art Online'', Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press. Web. 2 Nov. 2016
subscription required
* Rawson, Jessica, ''Chinese Ornament: The Lotus and the Dragon'', 1984, British Museum Publications, *Vainker, S.J., ''Chinese Pottery and Porcelain'', 1991, British Museum Press, {{Authority control Cities in Jiangxi Prefecture-level divisions of Jiangxi National Civilized City National Famous Historical and Cultural City