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In porcelain capital, dreams being chased
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NEAR Jingdezhen’s bustling Lianshe Road, Hu Weiping painstakingly brings plain china vases to life with delicately painted landscapes he creates in his tiny studio.
Eight years ago, Hu left a well-paid job in his hometown Nanchang, capital of east China’s Jiangxi Province, to pursue his dream of making and selling porcelain paintings in Jingdezhen, known as China’s porcelain capital. But following his dreams isn’t easy. Hu is one of thousands of porcelain artists in the city and hasn’t managed to set himself apart. Business, he said, is just so-so, and he’s struggling to make ends meet.
“Sometimes, I do not sell a single vase for a whole week,” the 53-year-old sighed. Life in Nanchang was much better.
“But this is where my passion lies,” he said.
Hu is one of 20,000 so-called jingpiao, the floating population of Jingdezhen who seek to become successful in the porcelain industry. But making dreams come true proves no easy task in the ancient city. Lack of recognition, poor work environment and low market prices are common struggles.
Jingdezhen’s history of porcelain-making dates 1,700 years back. The city’s unique clay resources and time-honored craftsmanship have made it a mecca for porcelain admirers and tourists alike.
Hot commodity
As the middle class is growing and the government is actively supporting the industry, the porcelain business has soared. The beautiful craft has attracted many to settle in Jingdezhen, said Li Wei, associate professor with Jingdezhen Ceramics Institute.
“The effect of porcelain paintings can be amazing after being burnt in the kiln, so a good number of Chinese painters come to learn porcelain painting in Jingdezhen, to seek artistic breakthroughs,” he said.
“Jingdezhen’s porcelain is a hot commodity throughout the world,” Li said. “Paper painters can make more money by selling the porcelain paintings, while graduates with porcelain-making techniques can also strike gold in the business. That’s why so many people choose to become jingpiao.”
The city government has also set up porcelain markets and hosts a variety of exchange activities to support the porcelain industry.
Each year, 30 to 40 percent of graduates from Jingdezhen Ceramics Institute, China’s only college centering on porcelain and ceramics, choose to stay in the city to become jingpiao, according to official statistics from the institute.
Whether they come to seek artistic breakthroughs or to make it in the porcelain business, most have to start from scratch and make and sell their own porcelain products to earn a living.
To save money, many jingpiao choose to live in Laochang and Laoyatan, two of Jingdezhen’s cheap rural-urban fringe zones, to craft porcelain products.
Fierce competition
Yu Jingfeng, a painter from Anhui Province, said his studio in Laochang, a suburb area with poor housing facilities, costs less than 1,000 yuan (US$154) a month. His neighborhood is full of garbage and deserted houses. Yu’s studio is filled with peeling paint, mud and clay.
“I once posted a picture of me making a porcelain vase on the Internet,” Yu said. “Many of my friends asked if I were working at the site of an earthquake.”
Porcelain prices are also quite low, unless “you have become a well-known porcelain master,” Yu said.
A famous craftsman’s work can fetch as high as 1 million yuan, while the work of a non-famous craftsman is only a few thousand.
Even on good days, Yu’s average daily income is less than 100 yuan. Fierce competition is an issue.
“If you don’t sell your work cheap, people will buy from other artists who do,” Yu said.
Many jingpiao have to work for the “famous masters” as unpaid interns to “accumulate experience” before they can start on their own, Yu added.
Despite all the hardships, many young drifters seem optimistic about their transient lives.
Xiao Ye, 25, came to Jingdezhen to start her own porcelain business after graduating from the Hubei Academy of Governance four years ago. Her current monthly salary ranges from 2,000 yuan to a few thousand more, depending on the business of selling porcelain souvenirs on weekend markets. She also rents a shabby studio of a few hundred yuan to make the souvenirs.
“I came here because I am interested in porcelain,” she said.
“I don’t think I am drifting, because I have a place to live, and I am doing exactly what I want to do,” she smiled.
Since coming to Jingdezhen, Xiao Ye has already sent much of her savings to her poverty-stricken family in Hubei Province.
“It’s not so bad here,” she said. “My friends often tell me ‘tomorrow will be better,’ and I always believe in that.”
To help jingpiao develop businesses, the city government has rolled out a series of preferential policies in recent years, including giving out low-interest microcredit and subsidies, and establishing “entrepreneurship incubators” to encourage entrepreneurship. Close to 8,000 jingpiao have benefited from the microloans, according to the government.
“Today’s Jingdezhen is a huge magnet, attracting countless jingpiao from across the country,” said Li Wei, the associate professor of Jingdezhen Ceramics Institute. “They choose to stay because they have hope in their dreams, their career and their future.”
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