Jingdezhen June 21, 2010
Posted by freda in China.add a comment
When Janine (a friend – and GM wife – who lives in the same apartment building) called on Saturday, May15th, to say she and Robin (another friend in the building) were planning an overnight trip to Jingdezhen because their husbands were out of town the following week, and would I like to go too, it took me about 5 minutes to decide it was just what I needed to take my mind off the impending move. Don would be out of town as well.
I pulled out my China travel guide: For centuries the ceramic capital of China, Jingdezhen is still one of the country’s major porcelain producers. Although pottery kilns were operating here as far back as the Han dynasty, it was the discovery of real porcelain, during the Five Dynasties (907-79AD), which depended on locally found clay rich in feldspar, that brought Jingdezhen its pre-eminence. During the Ming dynasty, its location near the imperial capital of Nanjing increased its importance and it became famous for fine porcelain with a blue underglaze.
We were going porcelain shopping!! Janine had been to Jingdezhen a few years earlier, so she was our expert, and a superb planner she turned out to be! We booked our flights (only one flight in and out each day from Shanghai), booked a hotel, and packed wine and snacks, and camera. We left early on Tuesday morning, the 18th. Our flight out was delayed an hour. We knew we were going to be waiting awhile when the flight attendants handed out the small meal while we were sitting on the runway. (And yes, you read correctly. Even on a one-hour flight in China, you always get served a small meal.) But, we arrived late morning, (not too much time lost), were met at the airport by the tour guide we had hired for our first day, and taken to the hotel to check in. Jingdezhen is a “third-tier” city, which refers to the population, and reflects the ammenities. Janine had booked us into a fairly new hotel, and it was very nice for small-city (a few million) China, though the beds were harder than rock, (typical in China), and made sleeping rather difficult. The staff bent over backwards to make sure we were happy.
Our first stop was the Museum of Ceramic History. Our tour guide walked us through, giving small explanations. It wasn’t very big – actually, a little disappointing given we were in the centre of porcelain production. The Shanghai Museum’s ceramic display is more impressive. But then we wandered along the main street lined with shops and galleries, and checked out some very exquisite porcelain – way out of our price range, for the most part, but absolutely stunning. Our next stop was a porcelain factory, where we could see the process of making what China is famous for, through all the steps.
first the pottery wheel
creating the same piece over and over, by hand
drying racks
more drying, or waiting to be glazed
row upon row upon row
racks of pieces drying inside this window
the painting area
he's putting the signature of the factory on each piece
the painting is done in a few stages
many different styles
with Robin and our tour guide
Seeing the process of making the porcelain gave us a huge appreciation for the pieces we then went shopping for in the markets. Our guide took us to a four-floor market, every shop selling pieces similar but different. The pieces ranged from factory-produced to one-of-a-kind pieces by top-rated artists. We spent a couple of hours going from shop to shop, looking at everything, asking prices on some things, our tour guide trailing behind us and helping with translations if we needed. But, we didn’t buy anything our first day. It was better to just get an idea of what we liked, what our choices were. (We also thought we probably weren’t getting the best prices with our tour guide with us.) After this indoor market, we went to a street market, where most of the stock was displayed outside. Aren’t the colours great?!?
endless selection - all the same
seems dangerous to me to have breakables on the street
these carts were in use everywhere, all pulled by hand
Janine and Robin
I love all the colour!
street workers
We went back to the hotel overwhelmed by choice and exhausted. How lovely that we’d brought wine in our suitcases. We uncorked a bottle and had a much-needed glass and some nuts. Then we went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. The hotel had two restuarants – one Chinese and one Western. We’d tried to reserve in the Chinese restaurant but it was full (!), so we went to the Western one – we were the only people in the restaurant!! They allowed us to order from the Chinese menu, though, which was great because the “western” choices weren’t very interesting. The Chinese food was excellent.
Then, back to our rooms for the piece de resistance: Janine had organized for foot massages in our room. This was a production! First, booking three massage therapists to come to the hotel had the hotel staff in a tizzy. They couldn’t believe we were willing to pay 200 RMB each ($30), which was the cost for transportation to bring the women to the hotel, and to massage us for 90 minutes!! At the appointed time, a young fellow showed up with the three women. He was likely the driver and the safety net in case we proved to be three men (that’s our guess, anyway, and we called him the pimp). Where we were all going to sit, how the massage would be given, was an issue that required a lot of conversation. It was finally decided we’d sit at the end of the two beds in the room, and the women would be on their knees on the floor (though we’d offered chairs). Then the buckets had to be filled with hot hot water for the customary feet soak – which was another production as kettles of hot water were brought by hotel staff. Finally the room quietened down, our feet entered the hot water, the woman massaged our arms and thighs, and then feet out of the water, we lay back on the beds and the women massaged our feet. And then, feet done, we lay on our stomachs and they massaged our backs, and then we sat up and they finished with our necks and shoulders. Ahhhh! Can you believe all that for only $30!! Unbelievable.
in our pj's, ready to relax
the massaging begins
The next day, after breakfast and checking out, and arranging for our suitcases to be stored at the hotel for the day, and making a reservation for dinner at the hotel for that evening (our flight wasn’t until 9:15 p.m.), we were off. First stop was a large market that turned out to be still under construction. Some of the shops were open, though, and in another few months this will be a great little “village” of shops.
lots of little bridges between the shop-lined streets
this shop had lovely pieces, though we didn't buy any
at the end of the little village, a small exhibit in this pagoda
Robin and me
Robin found a beautiful plate in this market, which she then lugged to another market Janine had been to before. But, then we decided we’d grab a taxi, take Robin’s purchase back to the hotel to store, and we’d sit down for a quick cup of tea and a snack before venturing back to our four-floor market.
drinking jasmine tea with bendy straws!
In the centre of the city is a great artistic commemoration to the making of porcelain: several statues that show the process, and then a humoungous sculpture of a tiger (because this is the year of the tiger; this centre piece changes every year), made entirely of porcelain dishes….
statues showing the process
painting
carrying the product to drying rack
the tiger made of porcelain dishes
it's absolutely HUGE
close up, you can see plates and coloured lids of pots
Another unique aspect of the town was the light posts, which were all covered in beautifully-painted porcelain, and had different designs in different areas of town.
me and Robin again
Once again we spent a few hours going through the four-floor market, and this time we all bought pieces (though, not always what we had thought we liked the day before – it was definitely a good idea to look one day and buy the second day). We arranged to have them shipped back to Shanghai.
After we’d had enough shopping we toured an ancient kiln area. The on-site tour guide first showed us the process of making the pottery – like we had seen the daybefore, but this was mostly a demonstration, rather than a factory- and then to see the walk-in kiln – absolutely massive.
first a demonstration of the pottery-making process
and then the artists
amazing detail and a steady hand
every artist a completely different style
the wood-burning kiln is in this building
the workers walk into the kiln and load it up
the grounds were lush and beautiful
tour guides on the site
our tour guide with Robin and Janine
After our tour we taxied back to the hotel to have dinner. We had an open bottle of wine from the night before that we wanted to finish before our dinner. We asked if we could sit in the lounge area and have a glass of wine, but apparently that wasn’t allowed. Hotel staff came to gingerly carry the opened bottle and take us to a private back room where we could have our drink (out of sight!) and then stay and eat our dinner. Another delicious meal. Then we organized our bags and had a taxi take us to the airport. Unfortunately, when we got there we discovered our plane was delayed and they weren’t allowing us to check in until they knew an approximate time we would leave. Finally we could check in, but… turns out they still didn’t know when (if?) we would leave. After an uncomfortable wait in a very basic waiting room, with very little information – and our flights posted on the blackboard…
flights leaving Jingdezhen posted here!
we departed four hours after our scheduled time. We finally arrived in Shanghai at 2:30 am. And Janine’s driver, poor guy, had been at the airport the whole time, waiting for us. We were home at 3:30, exhausted, but it had been a fantastic two days.
And what did I buy, you’re asking?!? Well…
a beautiful large pot for the balcony
an exquisite tea set and tray, hand-painted
and three very different display pieces
freda's world adventures 