An epic of earth, fire and dreams

In ports as far as in Egypt and Kenya, discoveries of bluish-white Chinese porcelain shards from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) may prompt people today to imagine an epic of craftsmanship and a grand picture of the Maritime Silk Road overcoming waves and time.

The shards came from Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, often dubbed "China's capital of ceramics".

In 1004, impressed by the porcelain offered as tribute from the then-Changnan town, Song emperor Zhenzong bestowed one of his reigning names, "Jingde", upon the town.

There, an epic of earth and fire began.

In the early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), Zhu Yuanzhang, founding emperor of the Ming, ordered the construction of the Imperial Kiln Factory at an established site in the town to produce ceramic wares used exclusively by royalty. The unqualified products would be broken and buried. More than one million pieces of porcelain waste were estimated to have piled up in the following centuries.

Thus, Zhushan Hill rose in downtown Jingdezhen. Only 48 meters above sea level, it stands as a testament to the history of Chinese ceramics.

Beyond imperial solemnity, crisscrossing streets bathed in wisps of smoke mark the prosperity of the era's ceramics industry throughout society.

At the Guanyinge, an ancient kiln site in Jingdezhen, archaeological excavations have yielded a large complex of civilian kilns. Walking through today's farmlands, visitors easily bump into researchers' latest discoveries over the past two years: well-protected accumulations of kiln waste from the Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1279) to the Ming era.

Putting these fragments of legends together is also like restoring a piece of porcelain. This masterpiece now glitters again on a wide stage — on Saturday, the Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites became China's latest entry on the World Heritage List during the 48th Session of the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO in Busan, South Korea.

The industry sites include porcelain production workshops in town areas and raw material hubs in the wild, as well as their historical environment, such as transportation networks and old city neighborhoods, with 45 components scattered across the 1,979-hectare property.

"They integrally preserve the representative kilns, workshops and other production facilities of all stages of the development of Jingdezhen handicraft porcelain technology from the 10th to 19th centuries," says Wei Qing, the main drafter of the application for World Heritage status.

According to Wei, no other property was previously inscribed on the World Heritage List for porcelain production, though some sites featured elements related to the theme.

"Silk, tea and porcelain were all important commodities in ancient China's commercial trade overseas," says Wei.

"Tea was consumed, silk decayed, but ceramics — tempered through various chemical reactions — endured for ages."

Evolving wisdom

Since 2002, Wang Guangyao, an archaeologist at the Palace Museum in Beijing, has hosted excavations on the Imperial Kiln Factory and other key kiln sites in Jingdezhen.

Thanks to his team's efforts, the city's past glory has emerged not only from documentation but also from physical evidence.