Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites

Overview

About

Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites (景德镇手工瓷业遗存) was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 2026 as a cultural site.

Called Changnan in the Tang dynasty, the town was renamed Jingdezhen in 1004 after the Jingde reign title of Emperor Zhenzong of Song.

The Hutian kiln site began production in the Five Dynasties, flourished in the Northern Song with its qingbai porcelain and ceased in the Ming, nearly 700 years in all; it became a national key cultural relic in 1982.

Why it was inscribed

A witness to exchange between cultures; a unique testimony to a cultural tradition or civilisation; an outstanding example of architecture or landscape; linked to major events, beliefs or works of art and literature.

Jingdezhen, in north-east Jiangxi, has been famous for porcelain since the 10th century; under the Ming and Qing it housed the imperial kilns and became the country’s porcelain centre, exporting worldwide. The listed sites include the imperial kiln factory, ancient kiln sites, porcelain-clay mines and the wharves and roads used to ship the ware, covering the whole hand-made porcelain industry from clay to kiln to transport.

Travel tips

Getting there: Jingdezhen North is the high-speed station, on the Nanchang-Jingdezhen-Huangshan line; Luojia airport is about 8 km north-west of the centre and has domestic flights. The older Jingdezhen station serves conventional trains. The city is compact, and taxis and buses reach most sites.

Components: the property consists of five components covering the raw-material sources at Gaoling-Yaoli, the Hutian kiln site, the imperial kiln site and the old town, all within one municipality and mostly in or near the urban area.

Imperial kiln site: in the city centre, where the Ming and Qing official kilns stood. A site museum shows kilns and layered deposits from different periods.

Hutian kiln site: in the southern suburbs, a kiln complex producing qingbai ware from the Song dynasty, now the Hutian ancient kiln museum.

Gaoling-Yaoli: in Fuliang county to the northeast. Gaoling village, in Ehu town, gave kaolin its name; Yaoli is a historic town with Huizhou-style buildings. Hire a car or take a county bus.

Old town: the Taoxichuan cultural quarter, the ceramics museums and old factory buildings are the working and trading area today, where visitors can try throwing and painting.

Time: two days cover the main sites and museums; add a third for Gaoling-Yaoli.

Season: spring and autumn are comfortable; summer is humid and rainy, winter fairly cold. A ceramics fair is often held in autumn.

Where to stay: around the imperial kiln site and Taoxichuan, within walking distance.

Photo credits: Changjiang River, Jingdezhen: JHH755 (CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons)

Nearby

Straight-line distances. Search nearby