Jingdezhen, the Porcelain City

Jingdezhen had the clay, the wood and the river, and it has made porcelain since the Song, supplying the imperial court and then the export trade that filled European cabinets. The white kaolin clay takes its name from Gaoling, a hill outside the town. Work is still divided the old way, one workshop throwing, another trimming on a wheel, another painting cobalt blue onto the raw body, another firing, and you can walk between them. At the old kiln site, wood-fired egg-shaped kilns have been rebuilt and are loaded and lit by kiln masters a few times a year. The Taoxichuan district, inside a disused state factory, holds weekend markets where young potters sell their own work.

What you actually see

• The old kiln site - rebuilt wood-fired egg kilns, loaded and fired by a shrinking trade.
• Blue and white - cobalt painted onto the raw body under a clear glaze, the town's signature.
• Taoxichuan markets - weekend stalls of studio ceramics in a converted state factory.
• The workshops - throwing, trimming, painting and glazing split between separate hands.

When to go

Spring and autumn are best, since summers here are hot and wet. The studio markets at Taoxichuan run on weekend afternoons and evenings, which is reason enough to time a visit for a Friday or Saturday. Traditional kiln firings happen only occasionally, so ask locally rather than expecting to see one.

Honest expectations

The city is a working industrial town, grey and not much to look at beyond the ceramic districts. A great deal of what is sold is decal-printed and mass produced but presented as hand-painted, and telling the difference takes an eye. Genuine studio pieces are not cheap. English is thin and the sites are scattered widely.

Nearby

The old villages of Wuyuan county lie to the northeast, among terraced fields.