A history of the porcelain industry in Jingdezhen

This study examines the history of the porcelain
industry in Jingdezhen from the Ming dynasty to the
present day, but with special emphasis on the Ming and
Qing periods. After a chronological survey of the
town's history from earliest times to 1949, various
aspects of the production and distribution of porcelain
are considered: the raw materials used and their
manufacture, transport and marketing, management and
labour,finance and overseas trade, and their significance
in the industry's development is assessed.

Among the problems that are examined throughout
the study and in the conclusion are the reasons for the
establishment of the industry in Jingdezhen in the first
place, its great progress during the Ming dynasty and
failure to modernise in the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries, and the connections between economic
development, state involvement and technological progress