Huanghuang Jingchu Yin·Journey to Eastern Jiangxi·Jingdezhen·Millennium Porcelain City with Prosperous Style
Jingdezhen is located in the northeast of Jiangxi Province, on the bank of the rippling Changjiang River, with beautiful mountains and rivers. The scenery is gorgeous.
Porcelain is an invention of China. China is the "country of porcelain" and Chinese porcelain has always enjoyed a high reputation in the world. Jingdezhen porcelain is "as white as jade, as bright as a mirror, as thin as paper, and as loud as a rock", making it even more valuable. Jingdezhen, the thousand-year-old porcelain capital, is an important town for porcelain production and a famous historical and cultural city in China.
Origin of the town name
Jingdezhen was a "Fan" place in ancient times and belonged to Yangzhou among the nine states in "Yu Gong". In the Spring and Autumn Period, it belonged to Wu and Chu, and in the Qin Dynasty, it belonged to Fan County of Jiujiang County. It was named Poyang in the Han Dynasty. Because it is located in the south of Changjiang River, it is also called Changnan Town. This town has a long history and was once one of the "Four Famous Towns" in China, as famous as Hankou in Hubei, Foshan in Guangdong, and Zhuxian Town in Henan.
The porcelain clay resources near Jingdezhen are extremely rich, providing a raw material base for the development of porcelain industry production. Jingdezhen had already produced porcelain in the Han Dynasty. During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, local official Zhao Gai abandoned his official position and came here after learning that the "water and soil in Xinping Town were suitable for pottery". At that time, there was a malfunction in the pottery kiln, and people were busy offering sacrifices to the gods. They thought it was "the kiln god was not bless", and the kiln master was so anxious that he threw himself into the river. Zhao Gai studied the structure of the earthen kiln and found that it was caused by poor ventilation, so he drew his sword to ventilate the pottery and quickly produced pure green pottery. He settled here and developed from making pottery to porcelain production. People respected him as the "God of Youtao" and worshiped him for a long time. By the Tang Dynasty, the exquisite porcelain produced here had been sold throughout the country and exported to foreign countries. According to Lanpu's "Jingdezhen Ceramics Record" and "Fuliang County Chronicles" of the Qing Dynasty, Tao Yu, an old artist in the early Tang Dynasty, once transported his porcelain to Guanzhong as a tribute to the great ancestor Li Yuan. The porcelain he made was as white as jade, crystal clear and moist, and was called "fake jade" at the time.
In the Song Dynasty, Jingdezhen was densely populated with kilns and many skilled craftsmen, and the porcelain industry was extremely prosperous. The famous product Ying Celadon porcelain has delicate texture, moist and elegant texture, beautiful shape and rich decoration. It is the best among all kilns for its excellent porcelain quality. At this time, there were many kilns producing shadow celadon and the output was high. Its influence exceeded the Yangtze River Basin and reached the Yellow River Basin and Liaohe River Basin. In the first year of Jingde (1004), because Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty particularly appreciated the porcelain here, the imperial court set up a town here, sent officials to supervise the production of porcelain as tribute, and ordered the porcelain workers to stamp the words "Made in Jingde Year" on the porcelain. People especially loved these "Jingdezhen" and gradually called this place Jingdezhen.
In the 16th year of Jiading in the Southern Song Dynasty (1223), Japan’s “ancestral pottery” Kato Shiro studied art at Hutian Kiln in Jingdezhen for six years. After returning to China, he built a kiln in Seto and fired porcelain. He became the ancestor of Japanese porcelain. In 1867, the people of Seto erected the "Taozu Monument" in his honor. Therefore, the Japanese people regard Jingdezhen as the birthplace of Japanese porcelain.
The world's kilns gathered
During the Yuan Dynasty, the Fuliang Porcelain Bureau, the only institution in the country to manage porcelain production, was set up in Jingdezhen. The town collects taxes and is also in charge of making porcelain. At that time, the official family had a shufu kiln that was specialized in firing royal utensils, and private kilns also increased in number. In the Ming Dynasty, for the imperial use, a large imperial kiln factory was set up and officials were appointed to supervise the construction.
Jingdezhen porcelain underwent tremendous changes during the Ming Dynasty. Previously, it mainly produced plain porcelain. Starting from the Ming Dynasty, blue and white porcelain developed greatly, creating a complete multi-color glaze technology. For example, copper red glaze - Jihong (also known as bright red, sacrifice red, drunken red), is more beautiful than gemstones. During the Hongzhi period in Chenghua, the artist Chen Shougui made the "Colorful Lotus Bowl" with bright colors. Cheng Cungong made a blue and white porcelain lotus flower ear vase. There is an inscription on the left side of the outer edge of the mouth: "Cheng Biao, a disciple of the believer Cheng Jiaxiang in Rendu, Fuliang County, Raozhou Prefecture, Jiangxi Province, is happy to give up three pieces of incense burners and vases*** One payment was sent to the Shuntian Mansion in Beijing to be kept as a permanent offering in Guanwang Temple to ensure good fortune for the whole family and prosperous business. On the tenth day of the fifth lunar month in the ninth year of Hongzhi (1496), a disciple of the Ming Dynasty, Cheng Cun Gong, made porcelain. As a work of art, it is carefully crafted and inscribed by the artist, which further strengthens the conscious awareness of artistic creation. In the Ming Dynasty, Jingdezhen's ceramic production was booming. Song Yingxing said in "Tiangong Kaiwu": "The kilns from all over the world gather together... The sound of thousands of pestles warms the earth, and the light of the fire candles the sky, making people unable to sleep at night."
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The Qing Dynasty was the heyday of Jingdezhen’s porcelain industry. On the basis of the famous porcelain of previous dynasties, “ancient color”, “pastel color”, “blue and white exquisite” and “celestial blue” were newly created , "Lang Kiln Red", "Beauty Drunk" and other precious glazes, some painters also participated in porcelain painting. For example, the landscape painter Wu Qilu painted for Wu Kiln, and painted porcelain paintings in Jingdezhen during Guangxu. , flowers, and his works are extremely exquisite in rendering and are treasured by people. In modern times, there is a famous porcelain carver Wang Bingrong who is good at carving landscapes and figures. He likes to imitate bamboo, wood, ivory and lacquer carvings, and his exquisite carvings are extremely similar. Jingdezhen porcelain is exported to four countries. More than ten countries. Porcelain making techniques were also introduced to North Korea, Japan and other countries. In 1986, Dutch explorer Hex discovered a sunken ship in the South China Sea and salvaged tens of thousands of Jingdezhen porcelains from the Qianlong period, which were auctioned in Amsterdam. Antique dealers and collectors went there one after another. Although this batch of porcelain had been soaked in seawater for more than two hundred years, it was still as bright as new and was hailed as a miracle on earth. Therefore, tens of thousands of Jingdezhen porcelains from the Qing Dynasty were ready to be shipped to Europe. It was sold out. Although the price was high, a blue and white teapot sold for 12,000 US dollars, and it was difficult to "snatch" it.
Today. In Jingdezhen, the porcelain industry has developed greatly. In addition to porcelain factories, a complete system of geological exploration and mining of ceramics, ceramic machinery, chemical industry, and ceramic research and education has been properly protected. The main ancient ceramic sites are Huang. The history of the development of porcelain can be seen in Nitou, Baihu Bay, Liujiawan, Nanshi Street, Gaolingshan and Hutian. The ruins stretch for tens of miles, and some are piled up to a height of more than ten meters or even tens of meters. Porcelain pieces and kiln furniture left over from the Tang, Five Dynasties, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties are piled up all over the mountains and fields. After thousands of years of wind and sun, it is still as crystal clear as new. For thousands of years, people have poured kiln residue and waste porcelain into the river, laying a thick porcelain base on the Changjiang River. Take a boat down the Changjiang River. , there are many blue and white porcelain pieces sparkling under the water, and the figures, flowers and birds on them are clearly visible. Changjiang River has become an underwater ceramic museum, which is really a wonder of the world.
Apart from the complete system, Jingdezhen's scenic spots and historic sites are also complete. In addition to the ancient porcelain ruins, there are also the six-cornered and seven-story red pagoda from the Tang Dynasty in the old city, and the Lotus Pond (Foyin Lake) in the city center where Su Dongpo, Huang Tingjian and Foyin composed poems. According to legend, it was Fanjun in the Qin Dynasty. The place where Wu Rui set his horse was originally called "Lima Mountain". There was a large-scale imperial kiln in the south of the mountain. The shape of this mountain resembled five dragons playing with pearls. In the Tang Dynasty, the mountain was renamed Zhushan. The headquarters of the "Envoy" has been rebuilt. Yue Fei once stationed his troops in Yangfu Mountain and Yangfu City on the banks of the Changjiang River in the urban area. He wrote a couplet: "The organs are not exposed and the clouds hang down to the ground; the mood is flawless and the moon is in the sky." "The scenery around Jingdezhen is beautiful. There is a poem from the ancients: "Green hills surround the mountains and green rivers surround the mountains. Xinping is worthy of painting and drawing. Bamboos are planted in the corners of the houses leaning against the mountains, and boats are always tied to the waterside villages. ”
In the 1981 cultural relics census, more than a hundred ancient secular buildings from the Ming and Qing Dynasties were discovered in the urban and rural areas of Jingdezhen, such as Sanlu Temple, including gates, ancestral halls, villages and towns, streets, residences, and ancient pavilions. , ancient pavilions, ancient archways, etc. are rare in China. The city's "Jingdezhen Ceramics Museum" has a history of more than 30 years and is large-scale. In 1979, a new open-air museum was built in Panlonggang, four kilometers west of the Changhe River. The "Ceramic History Expo Area" includes architectural complexes of the Ming and Qing Dynasties and ancient porcelain workshops of the Song and Yuan Dynasties, which reproduce the process of ancient porcelain production and make the porcelain capital even more glorious.
Relics everywhere. p> The long-lasting ceramic production from the Han Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty left many ancient kiln sites and large-scale accumulations of ancient porcelain pieces and ancient kiln furniture in Jingdezhen. These precious ceramic cultural relics are like a living archive, recording the history of the city. The history of the development of ancient ceramic production in my country.
The Hutian Ancient Porcelain Kiln Site is a nationally protected cultural relic. It is the largest ancient porcelain kiln site located three kilometers away in the eastern suburbs. It covers an area of ??400,000 square meters and dates back to the Five Dynasties. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, it lasted for more than 700 years, with the Yangmeiting ancient porcelain kiln in the east and the Yinkengwu ancient porcelain kiln site in the southwest, forming an ancient kiln area with many relics from the Five Dynasties accumulated in the east of the village. The relics are in the south of the village.
The accumulation of kiln tools and porcelain pieces is most abundant in Liujiawu and Pipa Mountain. The center is tens of meters thick and is well preserved. The white-glazed porcelain of the Five Dynasties was particularly refined, while the Song Dynasty mainly produced shadow-green porcelain and printed porcelain. The Yuan Dynasty produced mostly black and yellow Privy porcelain, and blue and white porcelain was already produced. On the south side of the ancient kiln site, the "Hutian Ancient Porcelain Kiln Museum" is newly built, with an exhibition hall covering hundreds of square meters, displaying ceramic relics and related documents from past dynasties.
The ruins of the ancient porcelain kiln on Xianghu Street. Twelve kilometers east of the city, there are existing porcelain kiln ruins and artifacts from the Five Dynasties to the Song Dynasty, which may be earlier than the Hutian kiln. The economy here is so developed that it was once called Xianghu City in the Song Dynasty. With this as the center, it forms an ancient kiln area together with Tangxia, Baihuwan and Huangnitou ancient porcelain kiln sites.
Baihuwan Ancient Kiln District. Five miles away from Xianghu Lake, on the north side of the highway, the kiln site is very large. It is said that there were thirty-two porcelain kilns in the Five Dynasties and Song Dynasty. Near the red soil mountain channel behind the village are deposits from the Five Dynasties to the early Song Dynasty. To the west of the village are relics from the Northern Song Dynasty, and to the south of the village are many relics from the Southern Song Dynasty. The underground kilns here are of high quality, very prosperous, rich in deposits, and well preserved. It is a key area for inspection by domestic and foreign ceramic experts.
Tangxia ancient porcelain kiln ruins. Nine kilometers east of the city, it was Tangxia City in ancient times. There are nine ancient kiln ruins. The well-preserved ones include the Zhongjiaping "Sky Lantern" ruins, the Xiapengjia "Shangyaodun" ruins and the Yujia "Jade Bed" ruins. Cave" ruins. It is said that an emperor in the Song Dynasty ordered to burn porcelain and build a jade bed here, but it was not completed. This is an ancient kiln from the early Song Dynasty. It produces many types of bowl-type porcelain for folk use, but also blue and white carved porcelain and scratched porcelain from the mid-Song Dynasty. It is a provincial cultural relic protection unit.
Huangnitou ancient porcelain kiln ruins. 7.5 kilometers east of the city, the accumulation is more than ten meters high and divided into two parts: east and west. Xidui mainly contains relics from the Five Dynasties, including gray-bodied and celadon-glazed wares, bowls and bowls made of overlapping nails, and melon-and-shuttle pots. There are many relics from the Northern Song Dynasty in the east pile, and each container is burned upside down. The relics are rich and concentrated, making it the most representative ancient kiln site in the early days of Jingdezhen.
Yaoli ancient porcelain kiln ruins. It is located 55 kilometers east of the city. The kiln industry flourished during the Yuan and Ming Dynasties, with more than 30 accumulation points covering an area of ??26,000 square meters. It can be divided into four districts: Raonan, Yaoli, Changming and Nanbo. The porcelain here is simple in shape, including bowls, plates, goblets, etc., mostly painted with blue and white cloud patterns, entwining lotus patterns and peach dot patterns.
The ruins of the ancient porcelain kiln on Nanshi Street. It is 23 kilometers away from the urban area and connects Liujiawan, Yueshanxia and other places to form an ancient kiln area. The relics date from the Five Dynasties to the early Yuan Dynasty. The accumulation layer is rich and divided into four parts, covering an area of ??tens of thousands of square meters. The products are exquisite and smooth, often carved with patterns or ink pads, including blue and white porcelain, shadow celadon, blue and white porcelain, etc. The glaze is thin and bright, the white is green, the carvings are fine, and the quality is very high. There are many forms of decoration and firing, including stacked firing with pins, firing with saggers raised and firing with rings. This site is second only to Hutian.
Kaoling ancient mine site. Located 50 kilometers northeast of the city, formerly known as Yuling, it is the hometown of the famous kaolin clay. The ridge is 300 meters high, 3200 meters long and about 2200 meters wide. Kaolin and porcelain stone are used to prepare the porcelain body raw materials, which can greatly improve the durability of the porcelain body, making it less likely to deform and greatly improving the quality. This "binary formula" has brought a big change to ceramic production since its application in the Yuan Dynasty. Song Yingxing of the Ming Dynasty introduced the "glutinous rice soil" Gaoliang Mountain in "Tiangong Kaiwu·Tao", which refers to Gaoling Mountain. In 1712, French priest Entrecourt introduced the porcelain raw materials here to foreign countries, making Kaoling famous around the world. People in the world name the clay used for making porcelain "kaolin" because this is where the raw materials for Jingdezhen porcelain are produced.
The ancient mining sites are located in Kaolingshan, Shuikou Pavilion and Dongbu Street: Kaolingshan not only has a large number of earth mine caves and washing pits, but also many tailings accumulations. There are four characters "Yunling Wangfeng" on the Shuikou Pavilion. There are several stone tablets from the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty and the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty inside the pavilion. There are kaolin water transport terminals and Qing Dynasty stele on Dongbu Street, and the Qing Dynasty street in the village is still well preserved. It is now listed as a municipal cultural relic protection unit.
In addition to Jingdezhen, the ancient porcelain kiln sites in Jiangxi include the "Baihu Kiln" in Baihudu, Linchuan County, the Jizhou Kiln in Yonghe Town, Ji'an City, and the Gannan Tang Kiln in Dongqili Town, Ganzhou City , Luohu Kiln in Qujiang, Fengcheng City, Jiaoshan Shang Dynasty Kiln in Datang Village, Yingtan City, etc. In addition, primitive porcelain has also been found in the Shang Dynasty ruins of Wucheng in Sanqian of Qingjiang County, the Acropolis ruins of Dagushan, and the Niutou City ruins of Liuyu in Xingan County.
All this shows that Jiangxi's porcelain production has a long history.