Photo shows the exhibition, Boats Floating Afar: MaritimeTrade of Ancient Chinese Ceramics,is held at the National Museum of China.Pictured is a model of the ship for ZhengHe's voyages to the West, Sep. 4, 2020.(Xinhua)
"Potters' houses line the riverbank, sailboats carrying porcelain ply the river every day." The magnificent scenes depicted by Ming Dynasty's MiuZongzhou in his poem Wuran Pavilion conjure up endless imaginations of Jingdezhen.
Centuries ago, cargo vessels of all sizes moored at the banks of the Changjiang River, as people bustled about loading tightly-packed porcelain carried on their shoulders or with their hands onto the vessels, together with silk, tea, linen, tung oil and other products made abundantly in the neighboring regions. Countless vessels laden with goods then set sail from here along the river toward the sea, embarking on a new voyage "with sails hoisted day and night in the midst of raging waves as walking through a thoroughfare".
Porcelain was indeed more seaworthy than the soft, gorgeous silks. As heavyweight ballasts, batches of the fine porcelain produced in Jingdezhen were shipped across the country and abroad, becoming the most important export commodity in the history of China's foreign trade.
Textual research revealed that blue-and-white porcelain produced in Jingdezhen during the Yuan Dynasty were exported to more than 40 countries and regions along the Silk Road. From the late Ming Dynasty to the mid-Qing Dynasty, Jingdezhen became the main producing area of China's export porcelain. Sold on a large scale to Europe and America, it gradually became a "world commodity", contributing to the process of globalization. Some foreign scholars estimated that as many as 300 million pieces of Chinese porcelain were shipped and sold by European and American companies between the late Ming and mid-Qing dynasties.
It's no wonder Japanese ceramics scholar MikamiTsugio called the "Maritime Silk Road" the "Porcelain Road". American historian Robert Finlay even stated in The Pilgrim Art: Cultures of Porcelain in World History that in the 16th century, Jingdezhen's porcelain initiated the first wave of globalization in human history.
In ages past, hoisted sails witnessed the prosperity of the Maritime Silk Road. Silk and porcelain were traded across the major maritime arteries linking Asia, Africa, Europe and the America, connecting the cradles of civilization and culture around the world. During that period, the collision and fusion of Eastern and Western cultures left amazing historical imprints on porcelain.
In 2017, prior to the 1st "Belt and Road Forum for InternationalCooperation", Jingdezhen organized an elaborate exhibition, "Return: Classic Porcelain of the Silk Road", at the National Museum of China in Beijing, presenting more than 300 pieces (sets) of Jingdezhen's export porcelain from countries along the Belt and Road.
These exquisite exhibits, bearing the culture of China and the world, silently narrated their stories of setting sail from China to Europe through the ancient Silk Road and their journey back home, becoming vivid cultural carriers of the 500-year-old history of globalization.
In the eyes of Wang Luxiang, curator of this exhibition and a famous culture scholar, no other thing in the world could probably match the role of Jingdezhen's export porcelain as a commodity carrier jointly created by multiple nationalities, religions, customs and cultures.
Today, these returned porcelain have become one of the permanent exhibitions at China Ceramics Museum in Jingdezhen, attracting endless streams of visitors each day. From "Kraak" to "Imari" to "Armorial" ware... these elegant export porcelain wares that embody the extreme aesthetic taste and craftsmanship of Eastern and Western cultures carry not only exquisite ancient skills but also time-honored civilizations, becoming the cultural symbols of the dialogues between Jingdezhen and the world.
Each piece of export porcelain recounts a beautiful Silk Road legend behind. As the most profound, most trustworthy storytellers, they tell Jingdezhen's story to the rest of the world.
Photo shows the Exhibition of A Grand Maritime Voyage: the Maritime Trade of Ancient ChineseCeramics is held at the National Museum of China. Pictured is a blue-and-whitelidded jar with the patterns of entangled lotus produced in a Jingdezhen kiln andsalvaged from the shipwreck of the Wanjiao-1, Sep. 4, 2020. (Xinhua)
A single purchase
