China Focus: Jingdezhen inscription fills gap in World Heritage List for porcelain

BEIJING, July 25 (Xinhua) -- The Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites were inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage List on Saturday, filling a long-standing gap in the list for porcelain heritage.

Located in east China's Jiangxi Province, the sites consist of five component areas that together trace the evolution of Jingdezhen's handcrafted porcelain industry from the 10th to 19th centuries.

What sets the sites apart is their holistic representation of the entire porcelain-making chain. The heritage components cover the full spectrum of production, ranging from raw materials and fuel to manufacturing hubs and waterway transport networks, thus offering a complete picture of the traditional handcrafted porcelain industry.

"This is the first time we have pursued World Heritage status for an entire industrial chain," said Xiao Li, deputy head of the Department of World Cultural Heritage under the National Cultural Heritage Administration.

Nestled in the hills of northeastern Jiangxi, Jingdezhen has long been blessed with rich deposits of kaolin, also known as China clay, and other natural resources essential for porcelain production. The city's access to waterways, including the Changjiang River linking it to Poyang Lake and the Yangtze River, further underpinned its rise as a major center for porcelain production and trade over centuries.

The city's craftsmanship and innovations later influenced the development of porcelain worldwide. By the 16th century, Jingdezhen had become a leading global center for handcrafted porcelain.

From the 17th to the 19th centuries, innovations such as famille rose and enamel-painted porcelain, developed with the use of European color materials, helped advance Chinese porcelain-making techniques and spread Chinese porcelain aesthetics and craftsmanship across the world.

"The Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites showcase the evolution of Chinese handcrafted porcelain production and its contribution to global cultural exchanges," said Wei Qing, head of the team responsible for preparing Jingdezhen's World Heritage nomination documents.

Today, the ancient "porcelain capital" continues to exert a unique pull.

Over the past decade, Jingdezhen has attracted more than 130,000 new residents, 80 percent of them under the age of 35. Among the city's fewer than 900,000 urban residents are more than 60,000 newcomers who have arrived from elsewhere to pursue opportunities in ceramics and related creative fields, including many from overseas.

This enduring appeal has also translated into strong economic momentum. The city is now home to more than 58,000 handcrafted ceramic workshops and over 100,000 people working in the ceramic industry. Last year, the sector's annual output value surpassed 100 billion yuan (about 14.7 billion U.S. dollars), with its products reaching dozens of countries and regions worldwide. ■