# Jingdezhen Porcelain Sites Added to World Heritage List, Bringing China's Total to 61

> At the 48th UNESCO World Heritage Committee session in Busan, the handicraft porcelain industry sites of Jingdezhen were inscribed on the World Heritage List, taking China's total to 61 and honoring nearly a thousand years of unbroken porcelain-making.

- Source: Times of China (Times of China)
- Canonical URL: https://timesofchina.cn.com/en/article/jingdezhen-porcelain-world-heritage
- Chinese edition: https://timesofchina.cn.com/article/jingdezhen-porcelain-world-heritage
- Author: 中国时报编辑部
- Section: Society
- Published: 2026-07-27T10:00:00+08:00
- Updated: 2026-07-27T10:00:00+08:00
- Tags: 景德镇, 世界遗产, 陶瓷, 青花瓷, 文化遗产

---

At the 48th session of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee in Busan, South Korea, the handicraft porcelain industry sites of Jingdezhen were inscribed on the World Heritage List, bringing China's total number of World Heritage sites to 61. The nomination took 11 years, built on nearly half a century of conservation and research.

## Nearly a thousand years without a break

The inscribed property takes in 45 component sites across about 1,979 hectares, ranging from workshops and raw-material extraction zones to transport routes and traditional neighborhoods. Together they trace a handmade porcelain system that ran, almost without interruption, from the 10th century to the 19th, flourishing through the Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties.

For specialists, the value of Jingdezhen lies in how complete its production chain remains: from the mining of porcelain stone and kaolin, through shaping, decoration and firing, to transport along the waterways, every link can still be traced in physical evidence on this land.

## A porcelain capital built on openness

Jingdezhen became a porcelain capital thanks to abundant local deposits of porcelain stone and kaolin and a well-developed network of water transport, but also because of its openness to outside influence. It fused the ceramic traditions of northern and southern China, took in pigments and aesthetics from the Middle East and Europe, and blended local craft with foreign elements.

Blue-and-white porcelain is the classic example of that fusion. It combined Chinese ceramic technique with cobalt blue from Persia to create a distinctive style, and in the 17th and 18th centuries it deeply shaped Europe's taste for chinoiserie. Kraak porcelain unearthed at the Guanyinge kiln site in Jingdezhen, made specifically for European markets, confirms the city's export-oriented production during the Ming and Qing periods.

## From porcelain heritage to urban renewal

Wang Guangyao, a ceramics archaeologist at the Palace Museum in Beijing, said continuous innovation is what kept Jingdezhen's kiln fires burning for a thousand years. Alessandro Balsamo, of the Nominations Unit at the UNESCO World Heritage Centre, noted that artisanal production has long been underrepresented on the World Heritage List, which makes the Jingdezhen inscription especially meaningful.

For Jingdezhen, a successful bid is not only an honor but also a new path for the city's transformation. In recent years heritage protection and cultural tourism have been reviving a once-declining industrial city into a lively place where traditional craft and modern industry coexist. Ren Youqun, vice-minister of education and chair of the Chinese National Commission for UNESCO, was among those attending the session.

From a single piece of porcelain to the revival of a whole city, Jingdezhen's story shows that cultural heritage, when properly protected, is not only a witness to the past but can also become a resource for the future.

---

Originally published by Times of China. Free to cite with attribution and a link to https://timesofchina.cn.com/en/article/jingdezhen-porcelain-world-heritage.