Jingdezhen artisans preserve centuries-old porcelain heritage

In Jingdezhen, China’s “Porcelain Capital,” artisans continue to preserve pottery-making traditions that date back over 2,000 years to the Han Dynasty. The city’s porcelain sites were inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 2026.

Local artists, such as Chen Qing, maintain techniques once reserved for the imperial court. These methods often involve highly guarded family secrets, including oral traditions for specific pigment formulas passed down through generations. The craft requires extreme precision; for instance, painting a single teacup can take days, and even a particle of dust can ruin the work. Mastering these intricate skills, such as painting complex landscapes, is described as a lifelong process that often takes decades of dedicated practice.