A gift from the nature, clay and firing, gathering of craftsmen from all directions, all these helped to open a new chapter of ceramic art production in Jingdezhen, while inheritance and innovation ceaselessly pushed it up to the peak of its development, all of which are of course based on the pursuit of ultimate handicrafts.

Sanbao International Ceramic Art Valley marked the history of porcelain industry development in Jingdezhen and it is now a unique demonstration of the distinctive features of traditional porcelain making in Jingdezhen.

Surrounded by green mountains and clear creeks, the valley stretches 10 kilometers along the southeastern mountain range of Jingdezhen. This ecological valley field doesn’t favor plowing but favors porcelain making with rich resources of quality clay. Cunning handicrafts and flames of the kiln fire contributed to the development of the widely-known folk kiln in Jingdezhen through a thousand-year-long practice. This amazing valley field is now the “Sanbao International Ceramic Art Valley”, referred to as “San Bao” in short.

The Valley was officially inaugurated for restoration in 2015 by Zhushan District Government of Jingdezhen City, with a total investment of 2.6 billion yuan. It is the core part of Jingdezhen Taoyuangu Art Zone, with an area of 1.96 square kilometers under planning, including Sanbao Village and Hutian Village. The best clay mine in Sanbao Village in combination with the best porcelain making techniques in Hutian Village, they together built up a perfect porcelain making system which can be traced back to the Tang and Song Dynasties. Bluish white ware fired here in the Northern Song Dynasty ended the duopoly of “blue ware in the South and white ware only in the North” and was deeply favored by emperors and nobles of the time, bringing the fame of Jingdezhen’s porcelain far and wide and up to the international stage, laying solid foundation for its status in the world ceramic-making history, and making it the real “beginner of the town" .

The important role played by Sanbao in the porcelain-making history of Jingdezhen can be clearly seen from the origin of her name. According to historical data, Sanbao was called “San-maopeng” in ancient times, which meant it was a village with dense forest and abundance in bamboo and thatch, having no difference from many thousands of other villages in China. It is the abundance of clay mine that makes it distinct. Zhao Kai, a Sage of Porcelain, as a typical representative of many sophisticated craftsmen, came to seclude himself in this remote village to make porcelains, forming gradually a time when craftsmen came in flock from all directions. Distinct natural resources and rich talent resources with craftsmen gathering jointly built up in Sanbao a comprehensive system of clay-mining, hand-making, transporting, and selling, and turned Hutian kiln into a model for folk kiln development at the same time.

Sanbao witnessed the history of porcelain development. According to folklore, the petuntse made of clay here was of the best quality and also the highest price. A load of white petuntse could cost three ingots of silver. hence the place name from “three ingots of silver”. It was also said that Sanbao was bestowed its name by royalty because of its high-quality clay resources and convenient transportation. Another legend is about Zheng He, China’s greatest navigator who, before his voyage via the Maritime Silk Road to the west, came to Sanbao Village to pick porcelain as one of the three major types of merchandises which he would take to the west, which initiated the export of the porcelain here to overseas market. To memorize Zheng He, the locals renamed their village after Zheng He’s nickname “Sanbao”.

With unique natural resources and most excellent craftsmanship of the country, Sanbao brought to the world the most precious folk kiln products such as bluish white wares, and blue and white wares, etc.

Described in the poem was the busy situation in Sanbao at that time: “Dozens of water-powered trip-hammers lie on the sides of river; a roll of thunder there seems in the air yet without a drop of rain; the trip-hammers smash the local china stone into fine powder and dense slurry; ships from Qi Men haven’t arrived while local ships have already come back.” The rolling of water-powered trip-hammers and the busy shipping of porcelain are still fresh in memory but are stories of yesterday. Today, Sanbao is not as busy as it was, yet there is still the harmony for the inheritance of the ancestors’ handicrafts.

Sanbao, in this sense, is not just a place with evident natural advantages but also a place with the spirit of insisting, inheriting, and innovating that inspires Sanbao to move forward and to keep the tradition of plainness and craftsmanship at the same time.

The idyllic surroundings of Sanbao International Ceramic Art Valley offer a paradise for artists and artisans to devote themselves wholly to their pursuit, to be immune from the technological and worldly interference. Some of them also try to make some interdisciplinary and innovative approaches to ceramic art.

The integration of nature, porcelain, history, and humanity together with the adjustment of industry upgrading marks the turning point in Sanbao’s development course. The blueprint for the development of industry cluster of ceramic culture and tourism has been drawn, with ceramic art as the basis, culture as the core part, tourism as the means, industry as the goal, and cluster as the effect, to build Sanbao Valley into a cultural name card and a medium of communication between Jingdezhen and the world. 

As an advantage of Sanbao, porcelain is playing a key role in interconnecting different industries and achieving the clustering effect in the reconstruction and development of the Valley. There are the Hutian ancient kiln site, Yangmeiting ancient kiln site, Sanbaopeng clay stone mine site, water-powered trip-hammers and Hujialing ancient road site in Sanbao. Here, the profound culture and well-preserved porcelain handicrafts have attracted potters, artists and ceramic enthusiasts from the outside since 1980s and 1990s, some of whom, deeply interested in the handicrafts here, have turned from short visits to long-time stay.

Known as “jingpiao”, many people flock to Jingdezhen to seek success in the porcelain industry since the beginning of the new century. This group of people mainly consists of domestic artists and painters, graduates majoring in ceramics, and foreigners as well. Sanbao embraces all of them and offers space and support. There are about 3000 people now living and studying in Sanbao, and about three to four times of the number of resident artists and non-residents drifting to this place.

Besides the attractions to artists, Sanbao provides resources and platforms for porcelain culture innovation enterprises, art design studios, artistic groups and those who want to start their businesses. In recent 5 years, some high-end brands such as Jingde Xianyunju, Zhenru Hall, Yuyao, LKKER design studio, Sanbaopeng art studio have been built. The development has been diversified. Porcelain culture training and exchanges such as group exhibitions, solo exhibitions, mini exhibitions held here all display their distinctive features, promoting both the development of local ceramic art and leisure-time tourism. The valley can now provide to visitors some quality tourist resources as Xianyunjian·Ma’an Ling 3A-level scenic spot, Professors’ Street, food stalls, home stays, and porcelain field trip base, etc.