• Date:
  • Category: Culture

On July 25, 2026, the "Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites" project was successfully inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List during the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee held in Busan, the Republic of Korea . This brings the total number of World Heritage sites in China to 61 .

A Landmark Achievement

This inscription marks a historic breakthrough as it is China's first nomination of an "industrial heritage" type for World Heritage status, filling the thematic gap of "porcelain" on the World Heritage List . Together with silk and tea, it completes the representation of China's three major cultural carriers of ancient foreign trade and cultural exchange in the world heritage domain .

The Heritage Site Composition

The serial property is located in northeastern Jiangxi Province, covering a heritage zone of 1,979 hectares with a protective buffer zone of 5,545.7 hectares . It comprises five functionally integrated component parts :

  • The Town Area Porcelain Production Center – preserving tangible relics of a large-scale porcelain manufacturing system that took shape from the Song Dynasty (960-1279) through the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911)
  • The Hutian Ancient Kiln Site – the core kiln complex for Jingdezhen's handmade porcelain industry during the Song and Yuan periods
  • The Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site – the most renowned source of kaolin raw materials in the Ming and Qing eras
  • The Changling Porcelain Stone Mining Site – a key production base for porcelain stone and glaze stone over the Ming and Qing dynasties
  • The Jiaotan Firewood Production Area – a typical intact example of the firewood logging and waterborne transport system that supplied kilns throughout the Ming and Qing periods

Together, these sites encompass 15 groups of heritage elements and 45 individual heritage locations, including the Imperial Kiln site, the Luomaqiao kiln site, and the water-land transportation network remains .

Outstanding Universal Value

According to the World Heritage Committee, the property exhibits the innovative development of China's handicraft porcelain making technology, porcelain art, and porcelain industry from the 10th to the 19th centuries . It demonstrates the profound impact of China's handicraft porcelain industry on the development of the world's ceramic industry and the exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations .

The committee recognized the sites as meeting World Heritage criteria (ii), (iii), (iv), and (vi), acknowledging that Jingdezhen became the world's center for handicraft porcelain production from the 16th century onward . The blue-and-white porcelain produced there is considered an important vehicle for Chinese cultural dissemination and a symbol of Oriental art that influenced European "chinoiserie" popular from the 17th to 18th centuries .

Historical Significance

Jingdezhen's porcelain-making history spans over 1,000 years, with porcelain from the city traveling to Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas . More than 700 years ago, artisans pioneered a "binary formula" mixing kaolin with other raw materials in specific proportions, enabling porcelain clay to withstand temperatures exceeding 1,300 degrees Celsius without deformation . Rather than guarding their techniques as secrets, they actively spread porcelain-making skills worldwide .

The inscription represents not only international recognition of Jingdezhen's profound historical heritage but also a commitment to preserving the integrated systems of porcelain-making techniques, industrial organization, and social order embodied in these heritage components .