Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites

Why this place matters

UNESCO’s assessment of its heritage significance, adapted in formatting from the source dataset.

Brief synthesis

The Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites are located in an area with rich reserves of porcelain stone, kaolin clay, firewood forests and water transportation. Five component parts represent the handicraft porcelain industry system of Jingdezhen from the 10th to the 19th century. Together they exhibit the innovative development of Chinese porcelain making technology and porcelain art that had a profound impact on the development of the ceramic industry of the world. From the 10th to the 13th centuries integration of the porcelain-making technologies of northern and southern China achieved the stable production of bluish-white porcelain and laid the foundation for Jingdezhen to develop into a Chinese porcelain production centre.

In the 13th-15th centuries, innovations included the “binary formula” (mixing porcelain stone with kaolin), new kiln forms, and the use of imported cobalt pigments to produce the blue-and-white porcelain. From the 16th century, Jingdezhen was the handicraft porcelain production centre of the world, supported by a complex industrial structure that connected porcelain manufacturing and sales centres with raw material and firewood production areas via a waterway transportation system. The Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites bear witness to the formation of a large-scale intensive production model characterised by an industrial chain with fine divisions of labour, standardisation and specialisation, leading to a capacity for high quality porcelain. Through the advancement of production technologies and industrial organisation, Jingdezhen maintained its position as the porcelain production centre of the world from the 16th century, promoting the widespread dissemination of Chinese porcelain making technology, art and products around the world.

Criterion (ii):

The Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites demonstrate global exchanges in porcelain-making technologies and art, and innovations in porcelain production from the 10th to the 19th centuries. The Hutian Ancient Kiln Site portrays the integration of porcelain-making technologies for bluish-white porcelain from the north and south of China from the 10th-13th centuries. The development of technologies at Jingdezhen during the 13th-19th centuries combined traditional Chinese porcelain-making with Middle Eastern, Chinese and European pigments, and a fusion of Chinese and foreign decorative techniques to produce blue-and-white, enamel and famille-rose porcelain. The “binary formula” technology attracted widespread attention and was an important inspiration and influence on the development of high-temperature hard-paste porcelain technology in Europe during the 18th century.

Jingdezhen became a world porcelain production centre from the 16th-18th centuries, with its artistic styles studied and imitated all over the world.

Criterion (iii):

The Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites exhibit the continuous production process of the porcelain industry from the 10th to the 19th centuries and a complete industrial pattern including the social organisation of production. The five component parts provide a testimony to the tradition of Chinese handicraft porcelain industry.

Criterion (iv):

The Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites are a technological ensemble that illustrates important stages in the development of the handicraft porcelain industry, an outstanding example of innovation in global porcelain technologies, art and industrial organisation from the 13th to the 19th centuries. The uses of raw materials at Jingdezhen, the “binary formula” technology, modelling technologies, kiln designs, and innovations in underglaze and overglaze decoration techniques enriched the diversity of porcelain shapes and decorative styles. The large-scale industrial spatial layout, division of labour, and specialised and standardised production model enabled the efficient and high-quality porcelain production at Jingdezhen.

Criterion (vi):

As an important vehicle of Chinese culture and an important symbol of Oriental art, evidence of blue-and-white porcelain of Jingdezhen establishes a direct association with European decorative art from the 17th-18th centuries. As a global high-end trade commodity, the blue-and-white porcelain of Jingdezhen is one of the core elements of “chinoiserie” that was popular in Europe. These artistic elements were widely collected and used in pattern design, painting, furniture, architectural decoration and other fields, with porcelain serving as a medium to promote the global expression of Chinese culture.

Integrity

The five component parts include raw material sources, kilns, workshops, transportation and other production facilities that demonstrate the elements and stages of the development of the handicraft porcelain technology of Jingdezhen from the 10th to the 19th century. They include buildings used for the social organisation and management, commercial and trade activities, religious and belief practices, and the porcelain production tools and products of Jingdezhen. The Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites include a full suite of relevant attributes of the industrial system of porcelain production including the spatial layouts, production facilities and technological processes, and social organisation. The boundaries are appropriately delineated and ensure the protection of the key attributes.

The component parts are generally in a good state of conservation, and potential threats are well identified.

Authenticity

The attributes include archaeological sites, historic buildings, wharves, mining sites, firewood forests, historic roads, and sections of rivers, as well as intangible cultural heritage practices associated with porcelain production. The scale of the porcelain production centre is verified by a series of kiln sites along the east bank of the Changjiang River and the depth of kiln accumulations in the town area. The spatial layout of the porcelain production centre, raw material and firewood production areas, urban and rural environmental settings, and the historic river sections connecting the component parts demonstrate the organisation of the handicraft porcelain industry of Jingdezhen. The authenticity of the attributes has been established by historical maps and literature, and by past and continuing archaeological and historical research.

Porcelain making is still the pillar industry in Jingdezhen with continuing community involvement.

Protection and management requirements

The protection of the Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites is supported by national and provincial laws and regulations, including the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Cultural Relics (and its regulations), the Regulations of Jiangxi Province for the Conservation of Cultural Heritage, and the Regulations of Jingdezhen Municipality for the Conservation of Handicraft Porcelain Industry Heritage. The five component parts and their buffer zones are incorporated into the territory spatial planning framework. Intangible cultural heritage elements are safeguarded by the Intangible Cultural Heritage Law of the People’s Republic of China and the Regulations of Jiangxi Province on the Intangible Cultural Heritage. A four-level management framework has been established, consisting of the State, Jiangxi Province, Jingdezhen City, and the Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Heritage Conservation Center.

This Center is responsible for the coordinated management of the property. The component parts are managed by the Zhushan District and Changjiang District Cultural Heritage Bureaus, the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Institute, the Jingdezhen Ceramic Culture Inheritance and Innovation Center, the Gaoling-Yaoli Scenic and Historic Area Management Committee and Fuliang County Cultural Heritage Bureau. The Conservation Management Plan of the Serial Property of “Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites” (2025-2035) identifies objectives and specific activities for the conservation, protection and interpretation of the property, including monitoring and stakeholder coordination, community participation in decision-making processes and capacity building. Heritage Impact Assessment processes are in place for each of the component parts.

A research plan is in place, and a number of strategies and measures are implemented to manage congestion at heavily visited sites.