Town Area Porcelain Production Center and Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. 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 is where the day begins. Next is Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S.

2. 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 26 km into the recorded legs. Next is Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site.

3. 3. 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

   about 55 km into the recorded legs you reach Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site. Next is back through Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry S.

4. 4. 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 Town Area Porcelain Production Center.

5. 5. Town Area Porcelain Production Center

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   Back at Town Area Porcelain Production Center. That is the ride.