Week 4 Readings

5. Video Appreciation 1: The Thousand Years Old Kiln Fire in Jingdezhen 1

Jingdezhen has a long history, and porcelain is the whole life of Jingdezhen's history. The Song Dynasty was a period of great development of Chinese porcelain. At that time, the bluish-white porcelain of Jingdezhen kicked off the glorious history of Jingdezhen. This is because the water of Jingdezhen and the mountains are rich in high-quality porcelain stone and porcelain clay. However, the war in the Song and Yuan Dynasties made Jingdezhen rise and become the world's porcelain capital. Due to the disappearance of many competitors in the war, many artists moved to Jingdezhen, coupled with the frequent trade between China and the West, the porcelain industry has achieved unprecedented development. At the same time, the people of Jingdezhen successfully burned blue and white porcelain. Later, when Jing dezhen was in a raw material crisis, the craftsmen excavated a high-quality porcelain raw material: kaolin. Many stories of emperors and porcelain have also been recorded in history. Different emperors are in the reign, and the porcelain fired in Jingdezhen is different, and the porcelain also reflects the character of the emperor. Finally, porcelain was successfully fired in the West in the 18th century, and the porcelain industry in Jingdezhen declined.