Jingdezhen, a small town in the remote province of Jiangxi, revolutionized the history of ceramics by offering the world an unrivalled kind of porcelain since the Song dynasty. While developing a very well-organized porcelain industry it succeeded in becoming the porcelain capital. The place that was given to the porcelain of Jingdezhen in the areas where it was exported to — Asia, the Near and Middle East, Eastern Africa, Europe and America — is a testimony of the esteem it gained there. This ware, between arts and crafts, interfered in various parts of the concerned populations’ lives and influenced them in a more or less obvious way. After this brilliant past, Jingdezhen had to face a tremendous crisis since the end of the empire. One would say its glory is now over. Nevertheless, facing new challenges, the town is nowadays still living according to its fate as the porcelain capital.
