Nestled in China’s Jiangxi province, Jingdezhen — a city whose name has been synonymous with porcelain craftsmanship for more than a millennium — is steadily building a new reputation as a welcoming crossroads for creative talent from across the globe. Blending centuries-old artisanal traditions with cutting-edge modern infrastructure and an open, inclusive creative culture, the city is drawing a growing stream of international artists, designers, and cultural explorers who find its unique duality irresistible.
One of the many foreign creatives who have put down roots in Jingdezhen is Canadian artist Philip Read. In the center of his local studio sits a porcelain plate that stands as his most cherished work, and a quiet meditation on the city that inspires him. The hand-painted piece depicts a river cutting through Jingdezhen, splitting its landscape into two complementary worlds. One bank bustles with distinctly modern energy, dotted with recognizable global brand logos from popular chain restaurants KFC and McDonald’s. The opposite bank unfolds into a serene, timeless landscape of sloped tiled roofs, arched stone bridges, green fields, and still water — a slower, calmer existence that holds its own gentle power against the hurry of 21st-century life.
For Read, the painted plate is far more than just an art object: it is a perfect reflection of Jingdezhen itself. “It is both modern and international, but if you look a little further, Jingdezhen is still calm, still able to make you focus,” he explained. “That is part of its charm.”
This unique balance — an open, globally connected creative ecosystem that never loses the textured, quiet soul of its centuries-old craft heritage — is the core of Jingdezhen’s growing magnetic pull for artists from overseas. Long renowned globally as China’s unrivaled porcelain capital, the city earned international recognition for its cultural legacy when it was named a UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Art back in 2014. In recent years, targeted investments in artist residency programs, large-scale international ceramic art exhibitions, open-air creative markets, and cross-cultural exchange platforms have turned the city into a must-visit destination for ceramic artists and creatives of all disciplines. Photographs of international artists at work in Jingdezhen’s creative hubs, like Taoxichuan Ceramic Art Avenue, have showcased the city’s vibrant, inclusive creative scene to audiences around the world, cementing its rising status in the global contemporary art world.