Why this ride
It goes by way of Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S, Hutian Ancient Kiln Site, Jiaotan Firewood Production Area and Town Area Porcelain Production Center. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site and Town Area Porcelain Production Center
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 285 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 4 h 55
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site
Few words travelled the world quite like kaolin. It comes from Gaoling, which means High Ridge, a hill village in Jiangxi province where a pure white clay was dug for centuries and sent to the porcelain kilns of Jingdezhen. French missionaries in the eighteenth century took samples of this clay back to Europe, and the Chinese place name became the English and French word for the key ingredient in porcelain. So this ordinary-looking hillside is where one of the most famous materials in the world got its name.
Read the complete Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site is where the day begins. Next is Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S.
2. Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S
For a thousand years, the best porcelain in China, and for much of that time the best in the world, came from Jingdezhen. The city, in the north east of Jiangxi province, grew up around imperial kilns that produced fine ceramics for the emperors, and its blue and white porcelain was exported across Asia, the Middle East and Europe. The secret of its success lay partly in the hills around the city, where the white clay known as kaolin was mined. The word kaolin itself comes from Gaoling, a village in the hills north east of Jingdezhen, where the clay was first dug. The point on this ride lies in that countryside, between the city and the old clay mines, in a landscape of wooded hills, tea plantations, rivers and villages.
Read the complete Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is Hutian Ancient Kiln Site.
3. Hutian Ancient Kiln Site
Jingdezhen has been making porcelain for more than a thousand years, and the Hutian kiln site is one of the places where that story began to turn into an industry. The kilns here produced fine white and bluish-white ware in the Song and Yuan dynasties, and the heaps of broken shards and the remains of long dragon-shaped kilns show how potters adapted slopes of land to fire great quantities of pots at once. Later, in the Ming dynasty, imperial kilns were established in the town itself, and Jingdezhen became the porcelain capital of China, supplying emperors and, via the sea trade, markets from Japan to Europe.
Read the complete Hutian Ancient Kiln Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 53 km into the recorded legs you reach Hutian Ancient Kiln Site. Next is Jiaotan Firewood Production Area.
4. Jiaotan Firewood Production Area
Jiaotan is a name that points back to fire. The area lies in the hills of northern Jiangxi, not far from Jingdezhen, and its role in history was to supply fuel, firewood and charcoal for the great kilns of the porcelain capital of China. Jingdezhen has made porcelain for more than a thousand years, and from the Ming dynasty it supplied the imperial court with blue-and-white ware, exported around the world. Making porcelain needs three things: fine clay, water and a huge amount of heat, and the kilns consumed whole forests of pine, which had to be cut in the hills and floated down the rivers to the town.
Read the complete Jiaotan Firewood Production Area write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Jiaotan Firewood Production Area, about halfway. Next is Town Area Porcelain Production Center.
5. Town Area Porcelain Production Center
Jingdezhen has been making porcelain for over a thousand years, and for most of that time it supplied emperors. The town lies on the Chang river in northern Jiangxi, and its name comes from the Jingde era of the Song dynasty, in the early eleventh century, when the court ordered porcelain from its kilns for the first time. From the Yuan dynasty on, the town made the blue-and-white wares that became world famous, and during the Ming and Qing the imperial kilns here produced porcelain for the court, while merchants shipped export wares to Europe and the Middle East.
Read the complete Town Area Porcelain Production Center write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Town Area Porcelain Production Center sits at 139 km, about halfway. Next is back through Jiaotan Firewood Production Area.
6. back through Jiaotan Firewood Production Area
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jiaotan Firewood Production Area write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Jiaotan Firewood Production Area comes up about 185 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Hutian Ancient Kiln Site.
7. back through Hutian Ancient Kiln Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Hutian Ancient Kiln Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 233 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Hutian Ancient Kiln Site. Next is back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S.
8. back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S, late in the day. Next is Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site.
9. Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 285 km.
Leg by leg
Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site to Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S
Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site → Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S to Hutian Ancient Kiln Site
Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S → Hutian Ancient Kiln Site is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Hutian Ancient Kiln Site to Jiaotan Firewood Production Area
Hutian Ancient Kiln Site → Jiaotan Firewood Production Area is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Jiaotan Firewood Production Area to Town Area Porcelain Production Center
Jiaotan Firewood Production Area → Town Area Porcelain Production Center is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Town Area Porcelain Production Center to back through Jiaotan Firewood Production Area
Town Area Porcelain Production Center → back through Jiaotan Firewood Production Area is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jiaotan Firewood Production Area to back through Hutian Ancient Kiln Site
back through Jiaotan Firewood Production Area → back through Hutian Ancient Kiln Site is 48 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Hutian Ancient Kiln Site to back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S
back through Hutian Ancient Kiln Site → back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S to Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site
back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S → Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site is 29 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.