Investigation into the History of Jingdezhen’s Folk Porcelains

Lili Fang is Professor at the Institute of Art Anthropology, China National Academy of Arts. Her recent works include Construction of Localization in the Theory of Anthropology of Art (2023), From Production Centre to Art District: The Hyper-modern Development Model of Jingdezhen (2024), The Millennium Evolution of Jingdezhen’s Folk Kilns: Volume I (2025), The Formation and Development Toward a World Ceramic Center: Volume II (2025), The Construction and Transformation of Artisan Knowledge and Culture (2025) and Rethinking From the Soil (2025). Her book A History of Chinese Ceramics (2013) has been translated into English, Spanish and Russian.Translator:Jia XU is Professor of English at Beijing Institute of Technology. Her recent monographs include Shakespeare in China’s Academic Journals: A Research on Shakespearean Criticism in the Field of Foreign Literature, Theatre and Film (1949–2019) (2022) and Childhood and Coming of Age in Shakespeare’s Plays (2016). Her translated books (English to Chinese) include On Colour (2018) and DK the Shakespeare Book (2015).

• IntroductionPart 1. The reconstruction of tradition in the process of modernizationChapter 1. The ecological and social environment of Jingdezhen porcelain production: Geographical distribution and changeChapter 2. The rise and social background of the new handicraft workshopsChapter 3. Organization of Community BusinessesChapter 4. Fanjiajing village: The antique porcelain centerChapter 5. Changes and reconstructionPart 2. Thinking about traditionChapter 6. Porcelain trade associations in JingdezhenChapter 7. Guild Halls in JingdezhenChapter 8. The varieties of Jingdezhen porcelain HangbangChapter 9. SummaryPart 3. The rise and decline of Jingdezhen folk kilns in the past 500 yearsChapter 10. Jingdezhen folk kilns in the early Ming dynasty: Hardship and developmentChapter 11. Jingdezhen folk kilns in the Mid-Ming period: Stable developmentChapter 12. Jingdezhen folk kilns in the late Ming period: A turning pointChapter 13. Jingdezhen folk kiln in the early Qing period: A period of renaissanceChapter 14. Jingdezhen folk kiln in the Mid-Qing period: Coprosperity with official kilnChapter 15. Jingdezhen folk kilns in the late Qing dynasty: Toward the bottomChapter 16. Jingdezhen folk kilns in the late Qing dynasty and the early Republic of China: Pains and gains of early ModernizationPart 4. Conclusion Chapter 17. Beyond artistic productivityChapter 18. Disappearance of the empirical worldChapter 19. Interpreting the present and looking forward to the future in terms of traditionAfterwords