Jingdezhen traditional porcelain kiln firing technique
Jingdezhen Traditional Porcelain Wood Kiln Firing Technique (Second Batch Provincial Level) Jingdezhen traditional porcelain making includes two techniques: wood kiln firing and hand-molding. That is, people say that the porcelain industry has two major lines: "firing" and "making". Regarding porcelain firing, Jingdezhen kiln workers have a saying: "One is full, two is burning, and three is extinguishing the fire". It summarizes the three aspects of the wood kiln firing technique, namely, filling the kiln with stacking boxes, throwing firewood for firing, and timely extinguishing the fire. The salient feature of Jingdezhen's traditional porcelain wood kiln firing technique is that it uses traditional porcelain kilns and wood fuel, relying entirely on the production experience and skills of the workers, mastering and manipulating the complex physical and chemical changes that we modern people call, so that each clay body becomes the most exquisite and beautiful porcelain after high-temperature baking. It is full of magic in the huge contrast between simplicity, nature and complexity, science. Jingdezhen and its surrounding areas are located in the transition zone between the remnants of Huangshan Mountain and Huaiyu Mountain and the Poyang Lake Plain, with large and small peaks densely distributed throughout the territory. The mild and humid subtropical monsoon climate also provides favorable conditions for the growth of plants. The surface of the mountains in Jingdezhen is covered with lush forests, including a large number of pine trees. Pine wood is rich in oil, has a long flame when burning, and is durable, making it the best fuel for kiln firing. In the history of the development of kilns for traditional porcelain making in Jingdezhen, there are dragon kilns, horseshoe kilns, gourd kilns, small egg-shaped kilns, and large egg-shaped kilns appeared in the late Qing Dynasty. Egg-shaped kilns are also called Jingdezhen kilns and wood kilns. The kilns are 18 to 20 meters long and have a total kiln volume of 150 to 200 cubic meters. In the early Republic of China, there were 114 large wood kilns in the town. It has outstanding scientific value, historical value and practical value. The firing technique of Jingdezhen wood kiln represents the highest technological level of traditional porcelain firing in China and even the world. This evaluation is recognized by the world. Its historical value is reflected in its huge number, wide variety, and the most exquisite ceramic products in the world. Its practical value is that it can show the history and civilization of the Chinese nation to people in the form of a "living museum"; it can serve as a link to promote cultural exchanges across the Taiwan Straits and at home and abroad; and it also provides the necessary conditions for the inheritance of the traditional porcelain making skills of Jingdezhen. With the changes in the kiln structure and fuel of the modern porcelain industry, the firing of wood kilns has been completely stopped, and the firing process is on the verge of being lost, so rescue protection is imminent.