CHING-TÊ CHÊN
CHING-TÊ CHÊN, the metropolis of the ceramic world, whose venerable and
glorious traditions outshine Meissen and Sèvres and all the little lights
of Europe, and leave them eclipsed and obscure, is an unwalled town or
mart (_chên_) on the left bank of the Ch´ang River, which flows into
the Po-yang Lake, on the northern border of the province of Kiangsi. In
ancient times it was known as Ch´ang-nan Chên, the mart on the south of
the Ch´ang, but when the Sung Emperor Chên Tsung commanded that officially
manufactured porcelain (_kuan chih tz´ŭ_) should be sent to the capital,
and that the workmen should inscribe the pieces with the _nien hao_ or
name of the period, which in this case was Ching Tê (1004-1007), the name
of the place was changed to Ching-tê Chên.
The district town is Fou-liang, seven miles higher up the river, a
place of relatively small importance, but the residence of the district
magistrate; and both Fou-liang and Ching-tê Chên are within the
prefectural jurisdiction of Jao Chou Fu, which is situated near the mouth
of the Ch´ang.
The wares of Ching-tê Chên are distributed by various routes, some
overland to Chi-mên or to Wu-yuan and thence to Hang Chou, Su Chou,
Shanghai, etc.; the rest by boat down the Ch´ang, and thence either to
Kiu-kiang on the Yangtze for further dispatch to Chin-kiang and northwards
via the Grand Canal, or to the south-west corner of the lake and up the
estuary of the Kan River to Nan-Ch´ang Fu. From this latter town they
could be carried by water (with an interruption of thirty miles of road)
all the way to Canton. They are known under various names in Chinese
books--Chên yao, Ching-tê yao, Fou-liang yao, Jao Chou yao, Jao yao,
Ch´ang-nan yao, and Nan-ch´ang yao--all of which are easily explicable
from the foregoing paragraph.
The old name of Fou-liang was Hsin-p´ing, and according to the Annals
of Fou-liang the manufacture of pottery[324] was traditionally held to
have begun in the district of Hsin-p´ing in the Han dynasty. In the same
passage the development of the local industry is traced by means of a few
significant incidents. In the first year of Chih Tê in the Ch´ên dynasty
(583 A.D.) the potters of the district were called upon to provide plinths
for the Imperial buildings at Chien-k´ang (afterwards Nanking), but the
plinths, when finished, though cleverly made, were not strong enough to
carry the weight of the columns. In the fourth (or, according to another
reading, the second) year of Wu Tê of the T´ang dynasty (621 A.D.),
"porcelain jade"[325] was offered as tribute to the Emperor under the name
of false jade vessels (_chia yü ch´i_), and from this time forward the
duty (of supplying the Emperor) became an institution,[326] and a potter
named Ho Chung-ch´u gained a great reputation. In the Ching Tê period of
the Sung dynasty, as already stated, officially manufactured porcelain was
sent to the capital, where it supplied the needs of the palaces and great
establishments. In the T´ai Ting period of the Yüan dynasty (1324-1327)
the porcelain factory came under the inspection of the Intendant of the
Circuit, who supplied the required wares when orders had been received,
and closed the factory if there were no orders (from the Court).
Continuing into the Ming dynasty, the same authority gives details of the
various administrative changes which may perhaps be "taken as read," one
or two important facts only calling for mention. Thus in the thirty-fifth
year[327] of Hung Wu, we are told that the factories were opened, and that
supplies of porcelain were sent to the Court. There seems to have been
some difference of opinion about the building of the Imperial Ware Factory
(_Yü ch´i ch´ang_).
Some authorities place this event in the Hung Wu period, but the _Chiang
hsi t´ung chih_,[328] though quoting the other opinions in a note,
mentions only the building of the Imperial Factory in the reign of Chêng
Tê (1506-1521) in the main text, viz.: "In the beginning of the Chêng Tê
period the Imperial Ware Factory was established for dealing specially
with the Imperial wares." The Imperial establishment was burnt down in the
Wan Li period, and again destroyed in the revolt of Wu San-kuei in 1675,
but the most serious blow dealt to the prosperity of Ching-tê Chên fell
in the T´ai p´ing rebellion in 1853, when the town was sacked and almost
depopulated. The Imperial Factory was rebuilt in 1864, and the industry
has in a great measure revived, though it is still but the shadow of its
former greatness.
Though this great porcelain town has traded with the whole world for
several centuries, "bringing great profit to the Empire and to itself
great fame" (to quote from the _T´ao lu_), it seems to have been rarely
visited by Europeans, and first-hand descriptions of it are few. We
are fortunate, however, in possessing in the letters[329] of Père
d'Entrecolles an intimate account of the place and its manufactures,
written by a Jesuit missionary who was stationed in the town in the early
years of the eighteenth century. These interesting letters are so well
known that I shall not quote them extensively here. The picture they give
of the enormous pottery town, with its population of a million souls and
the three thousand furnaces which, directly or indirectly, provided a
living for this host, and of the arresting spectacle of the town by night
like a burning city spouting flames at a thousand points, a description
which inspired the oft-quoted lines in Longfellow's "Keramos," shows us
the place in the heyday of its prosperity.
A more modern but scarcely less interesting account of Ching-tê Chên and
the surrounding country appears in a Consular report, made in 1905, of
a _Journey in the Interior of Kiangsi_,[330] from which I have taken the
following paragraphs:
"During the last forty-five years Ching-tê Chên has had time to recover,
in a very large measure, from this last calamity, but it is said to be not
so busy or so populous as before the T´ai p´ing rebellion.
"Everything in Ching-tê Chên either belongs to, or is altogether
subordinate to, the porcelain and earthenware industry. The very
houses are for the most part built of fragments of fireclay (called
'_lo-p´ing-t´u_') that were once part either of old kilns or of the
fireclay covers in which porcelain is stacked during firing. The river
bank is covered for miles[331] with a deep stratum of broken chinaware and
chips of fireclay, and, as far as one could judge, the greater part of the
town and several square miles of the surrounding country are built over,
or composed of, a similar deposit. A great industry, employing hundreds
of thousands of hands, does not remain localised in a single spot for 900
years without giving to that spot a character of its own.
"This is perhaps what struck me most forcibly in Ching-tê Chên--that it is
unlike anything else in China. The forms, the colour, the materials used
in the buildings, the atmosphere, are somewhat reminiscent of the poorer
parts of Manchester, but resemble no other large town that I have ever
visited.
"At present there are 104 pottery kilns in the town, of which some thirty
or so were actually in work at the time of my visit. The greater part of
the kilns only work for a comparatively short season every-summer. During
this busy season, when every kiln is perhaps employing an average of 100
to 200 men, the population of Ching-tê Chên rises to about 400,000, but of
this nearly, if not quite, half are labourers drawn from a wide area of
country, chiefly from the Tuch´ang district, who only come for the season,
live in rows of barrack-like sheds, and do not bring their families with
them."
It is interesting to compare this modern account with the Memoirs of
Chiang,[332] written in the Yüan dynasty, from which we see that the work
was carried on in the same intermittent fashion, the potters receiving
land to cultivate instead of payment, living round the master of the
pottery, and being liable to be summoned to the kilns when required. The
opening of the kilns in those days was in some measure dependent on the
success of the harvest, and in any case the work depended on the season,
as the paste would freeze in winter, and could not be worked.
The hills which surround Ching-tê Chên are rich in the materials required
by the potters, china clay and china stone of various qualities, fireclay
for the seggars (cases to protect the porcelain in the kiln), or for
mixing in the coarser wares, and numerous other minerals. There was
water-power which could be used in the mills for crushing and refining the
minerals, and abundant wood for firing. Although coal is worked nowadays
not many miles away, the potters still adhere to the wood, which has
served their kilns from time immemorial. It should be added that at the
present day--and no doubt for some time past--the local clays have been
supplemented from various districts, supplies coming overland from Chi-mên
and by water from greater distances.
A good Chinese map of Ching-tê Chên is given in the _T´ao lu_ (bk. i.,
fol. 1), and a large map of the district is attached to Mr. W. Clennell's
report, which is easily obtainable.
This description of Ching-tê Chên has led us far from the period with
which we are at present concerned. In the Sung dynasty the place had
already arrived at considerable importance, and the record of its 300
kilns implies a very large population. The excellence of its porcelain had
already won for it the onerous privilege of supplying Imperial needs, and,
as we have seen, it was consecrated under the new and Imperial name of
Ching-tê Chên in the opening years of the eleventh century. The earliest
existing record of its productions, the Memoirs of Chiang, written at the
beginning of the fourteenth century, tells us that the Sung porcelains
made at Ching-tê Chên were pure white[333] and without a flaw, and were
carried for sale to all parts under the proud name of "Jao Chou jade." It
rivalled the "red porcelain" of Chên-ting Fu and the green of Lung-ch´üan
in beauty.
The _Ko ku yao lun_ describes the Imperial ware of this time as "thin
in body and lustrous," and mentions "plain white pieces with contracted
waist," adding that the specimens "with unglazed rim,"[334] though thin in
body, white in colour, lustrous, and surpassingly beautiful, are lower in
price than the Ting wares.
It is not too much to assume that some of this "Jao Chou jade" has
survived to the present day, and we may look for it among the early
translucent white porcelains, of which a considerable number have reached
Europe during the last few years. Many of these have Sung forms and the
Sung style, though, of course, plain white wares are always difficult to
date. In the specimens to which I refer the glaze is usually of a warm
ivory tone, tending to cream colour; it is hard and usually discontinued
in the region of the base, both underneath and on the side, and the
exposed body is rather rough to the touch. (See Plate 24, Fig. 1.)
It is not clear whether we are to infer from the comparison with
Lung-ch´üan ware quoted above that the Ching-tê Chên potters produced
a celadon in the Sung dynasty, but it is probable enough that they did
so, and that the green or greenish white (_ch´ing pai_)[335] made in the
Yüan period was a continuation of this. If we can believe the statement
in the _T´ao lu_, they began early to copy the wares of other factories,
imitating the Chün Chou ware at the end of the Sung period and the
crackled Chi Chou ware in the Yüan.
It seems to me possible that the reference to the imitation of
Chün ware may be explained by an interesting passage from a late
twelfth-century[336] writer quoted in the _T´ao lu_, who says that in
the Ta Kuan period (1107-1110) there were among the Ching-tê Chên wares
"furnace transmutations" (_yao pien_) in colour red like cinnabar.[337]
He is inclined to attribute this phenomenon to the fact that "when the
planet Mars in the Zodiac approaches its greatest brightness, then things
happen magically and contrary to the usual order." The potters were
evidently disturbed by the appearance of the wares, and broke them. He
tells us, further, that he stayed at Jao Chou and obtained a number of
specimens (of the local ware), and after examining them he could say
that, "compared with the red porcelain (_hung tz´ŭ_) of Ting Chou,[338]
they were more fresh and brilliant in appearance." It will be remembered
that an echo of this last sentence occurred in the Memoirs of Chiang.
A passage in the _Po wu yao lan_[339] might be taken to mean that
blue-painted porcelain, "blue and white," was made at Ching-tê Chên prior
to the Yüan period, but as the remainder of the sentence seems to be
based on the _Ko ku yao lun_, and no evidence is given for the words in
question, too much importance need not be attached to a phrase which may
be a confusion arising from the _ch´ing pai_ of earlier writers.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 324: See p. 141.]
[Footnote 325: [Chinese] _t´ao yü._ There are variant readings to this
passage as given in the _Chiang hsi t´ung chih_ (bk. xciii., fol. 5
verso), which make _t´ao yü_ the name of a man, the passage being read
"T´ao-yü forwarded as tribute false jade vessels." As pointed out
elsewhere, this expression "false jade" seems to imply a porcellanous
ware. The comparison of porcelain and even fine pottery to jade is a
commonplace in China, and it is not necessary to infer that any particular
colour, green or otherwise, is indicated.]
[Footnote 326: The text is simply [Chinese] _chih wu_ = "established
duty."]
[Footnote 327: In order to bring this date into Hung Wu´s lifetime, it is
necessary to reckon from the year 1364, when he was proclaimed Prince of
Wu. But other records (see _T´ao lu_, bk. v., fol. 4 recto) give the date
as second year of Hung Wu--i.e. 1369, instead of 1398 as above. Hung Wu
was proclaimed Emperor in 1368, and died in 1398.]
[Footnote 328: Bk. cxiii., fols. 7 and 8. The _T´ao shuo_ makes
practically the same statement in connection with both periods, and
Bushell (_O.C.A._, p. 287) gives us to understand that the first structure
was burnt down and that erected in the Chêng Tê period was a rebuilding.
The _T´ao lu_ states that a special Imperial factory was erected on
the Jewel Hill in the Hung Wu period, and that there were other kilns
scattered over the town working for the palace, and that the name _Yü ch´i
ch´ang_ was given to all of them in the Chêng Tê period.]
[Footnote 329: Dated 1712 and 1722 from Ching-tê Chên, and preserved
among the _Lettres édifiantes et curieuses_. They have been frequently
published in part or in full, e.g. translated in W. Burton's _Porcelain_,
and printed in French as an appendix to Bushell's _Translation of the T´ao
shuo_.]
[Footnote 330: By Walter J. Clennell, H.M. Consul at Kiu-kiang, printed
for H.M. Stationery Office.]
[Footnote 331: The long river front, "crowded for three miles by junks,"
was a feature of the place, which was sometimes known as the "thirteen
_li_ mart." A _li_ is about 630 English yards.]
[Footnote 332: See p. 159.]
[Footnote 333: An incidental reference to white porcelain bowls at
Hsin-p´ing (the old name for the district town of Ching-tê Chên) in
1101 A.D. occurs in the _Ch´ang nan chih_ (quoted in the _T´ao lu_, bk.
viii., fol. 15). It is a verse on the subject of tea drinking: "The white
porcelain is quickly passed from hand to hand all night; the fragrant
vapour fills the peaceful pavilion."]
[Footnote 334: [Chinese] _mao k´ou chê_, lit. "hair mouth things." Bushell
renders "with unglazed mouth." See _Ko ku yao lun_, bk. vii., fol. 24
verso, under the heading of "Old Jao wares."]
[Footnote 335: See p. 160.]
[Footnote 336: Chou Hui, author of the _Ching po tsa chih_, a miscellany
published in 1193, quoted in _T´ao lu_, bk. viii., fol. 6 r. and v.]
[Footnote 337: Cf. descriptions of Chün Chou ware, chap. ix.]
[Footnote 338: See p. 92.]
[Footnote 339: Bk. ii., fol. 8 verso. "The body was thin and glossy
(_jun_), the colour white, the ornament blue (or green) ([Chinese] _hua
ch´ing_), and compared with Ting ware it was little inferior."]