Liling Porcelain

Liling Porcelain

Liling Porcelain is a protected geographical indication product.

Liling Porcelain is a certified geographical indication trademark.

　　　China has a long and rich history, and its porcelain culture is one of the most representative aspects of its heritage. In English, both "China" (the country) and "china" (the material) share the same spelling, highlighting the immense global impact of Chinese porcelain. Underglaze colored porcelain is a traditional ceramic decoration art in China, and Liling-produced underglaze porcelain, in particular, enjoys high international acclaim. The exquisitely crafted and skillfully made Liling underglaze polychrome porcelain displayed on Bobao Baozhen Mall transports viewers into a vibrant world of ceramics, with pieces that are highly valued for their artistic and aesthetic appeal.

　　The Chinese nation has a deep affinity for the color red, and people often wish to convey their best blessings to family and friends. As a result, Chinese red porcelain was gifted to 48 distinguished African guests as a national present, sparking a collecting craze for red porcelain. Red porcelain has since become indispensable in many ceremonial exchanges, symbolizing friendship and goodwill. Today, Liling red porcelain is thriving, with enterprises like Hongyu Red Porcelain continuously innovating to bring more beautiful red porcelain to the peace-loving people of China.

　　Liling is an ancient yet modern city in southern China, renowned as the "Porcelain City" and the birthplace of world-famous underglaze polychrome porcelain. Porcelain is one of China's unique inventions, and even today, the English word for it remains "china." Liling has a nearly 2,000-year history of ceramic production, with large-scale workshops dedicated to pottery-making dating back to the Eastern Han Dynasty. In the seventh year of the Yongzheng reign during the Qing Dynasty (1729), Liling began producing coarse porcelain. From the late Qing Dynasty to the early Republic of China, the Liling ceramic industry entered a new phase of development. Since ancient times, it has been said that "the finest porcelains in the world come from Liling," earning it the reputation as the pinnacle of Eastern ceramic art. Liling porcelain has not only graced the Great Hall of the People, Zhongnanhai, and the Memorial Hall of Chairman Mao but has also been exported worldwide, winning the hearts of people across five continents. Known for its fine texture and exquisite patterns, especially its underglaze polychrome porcelain, Liling ware is celebrated for its vibrant colors, high artistic value, and practical utility.

　　 Liling Porcelain Recruitment Brand

　　　　Ceramic Talent Network is an online comprehensive human resources solution provider dedicated to offering recruitment, job-seeking, training, and consulting services for enterprises (and institutions) and individuals in the ceramic industry. With its efficient and professional team and high-quality services, the website facilitates information exchange between ceramic companies and talent, aligning human resource management with overall corporate strategies while promoting career development for industry professionals.

　　Through the efforts of its team and the support of its users, Ceramic Talent Network has grown rapidly and is now one of the leading ceramic human resource providers in China. Its services include online recruitment, headhunting, campus recruitment, advertising, and HR management consulting, with plans to expand into traditional recruitment media and cross-border talent exchange services. While providing ceramic HR solutions, the platform actively seeks industry partners, integrating its recruitment channel into numerous ceramic industry information and business websites. Ceramic Talent Network strives to cover all areas of the ceramic service sector, offering professionals a high-quality career platform and businesses an efficient hiring solution to maximize recruitment outcomes.

　　Ceramic Talent Network aims to deliver personalized services to ceramic enterprises through a robust business model, rigorous work ethic, high-quality service, and effective solutions. Striving to be China’s premier professional ceramic HR website, it seeks to become a long-term partner for ceramic companies and an indispensable tool in their human resource management.

　　 History

　　　　Throughout history, many visionary individuals and skilled artisans have made significant contributions to the development of Liling’s ceramic industry. In 1904, Xiong Xiling, a native of Fenghuang, Hunan (who later served as the Premier of the Beiyang Government after the Xinhai Revolution), and Wen Junduo, a Liling scholar who participated in the "Gongche Shangshu" movement, traveled to Japan to study industrial salvation strategies. During their visit, they observed Japan’s advanced ceramic technology and high-quality products. Upon returning to China the following year, Xiong Xiling, accompanied by Wen Junduo, investigated Liling’s major coarse porcelain production areas, identifying the key reasons for the industry’s backwardness while also recognizing its potential: a vast consumer market, abundant kaolin resources, and low labor costs. They proposed initiatives such as establishing schools and companies, which received strong support from the Hunan provincial government. That year, the Hunan Official Ceramic School was officially founded in Liling, followed by the establishment of the Hunan Ceramic Manufacturing Company the next year, with Xiong Xiling as general manager and Wen Junduo as school supervisor. The company hired Japanese technicians and Jingdezhen craftsmen, introducing cutting-edge Japanese production techniques and equipment, marking the beginning of Liling’s transition from coarse to fine porcelain. The distinctive Liling underglaze polychrome porcelain was developed under these circumstances.

　　Early Stage

　　　　Prior to this, Liling porcelain used single cobalt oxide (commonly known as "earth ink") as the coloring agent, with hand-painted bold floral patterns covered by glaze to produce underglaze blue-and-white porcelain. Between 1907 and 1908, the Hunan Ceramic School developed various underglaze pigments, including grass green, sea blue, bright black, ochre, and agate red. Through repeated experimentation, master painters from the Hunan Ceramic Manufacturing Company and graduates of the school’s ceramic painting class used self-made underglaze pigments, employing traditional Chinese double-outline water-dividing coloring and the "three-fire process" to create groundbreaking underglaze polychrome porcelain. This porcelain featured a fine texture, exquisite craftsmanship, a fresh and elegant style, and vibrant, lifelike designs beneath the glaze, combining high artistic and practical value. Its debut garnered widespread acclaim from industry experts and international media. Between 1909 and 1911, Liling underglaze polychrome porcelain was exhibited at the Wuhan Industrial Exposition, the Nanyang Industrial Exposition, and the Turin International Exhibition in Italy, winning gold medals each time. Liling porcelain began to gain fame across China and the world. The phrase "white as jade, bright as a mirror, thin as paper, and resonant as a chime stone" aptly described its acclaim.

　　Mid-Stage

　　　　In 1915, Liling porcelain crossed the ocean to participate in the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, USA. The underglaze polychrome flat bean and double-bird porcelain vase, along with Guizhou Maotai liquor, won the highest honors, securing two gold medals for China. The vase, a masterpiece of the Hunan Ceramic Company from 1911, stood 46.8 cm tall with a 20 cm diameter mouth, its body as white as jade and its shape resembling a phoenix tail, with smooth lines. Its glossy glaze, elegant colors, vivid floral design, and exquisite craftsmanship left observers in awe, earning it international praise as the "pinnacle of Eastern ceramic art." From then on, Liling porcelain became world-renowned, attracting countless buyers, and numerous private fine-porcelain manufacturers emerged, rivaling Jingdezhen in prominence. Underglaze polychrome porcelain became a defining feature of Chinese ceramics, a global innovation.

　　After just one or two decades of development, the underglaze polychrome porcelain industry declined in the late 1920s due to repeated wars. Over a hundred Liling kilns ceased production, and the Hunan Ceramic Manufacturing Company, the first to produce underglaze polychrome porcelain, went bankrupt in 1930, halting its production.

　　After Liberation

　　　　In 1949, Liling was peacefully liberated, and its struggling ceramic industry experienced a revival. Over the following years, the industry rapidly recovered and achieved significant growth. In 1954, to restore the interrupted over 20-year production of underglaze colored porcelain, authorities located Wu Shouqi, a graduate of the first class of the Hunan Ceramic School’s painting class and an underglaze artist, who was then enjoying retirement in the countryside. Despite being nearly 70, Wu resumed work, training underglaze painters and reforming traditional techniques by reducing the firing process from three to two steps, quickly reviving underglaze polychrome porcelain production. Subsequently, the Hunan Ceramic Research Institute and the Liling Porcelain Company Art Porcelain Factory (Qunli Porcelain Factory) were established, specializing in underglaze decoration research and production. During this period, Liling’s ceramic industry transitioned from manual to mechanical production and from wood-fired to coal-fired kilns, with new materials, technologies, processes, and products emerging. Underglaze polychrome porcelain regained its former glory, earning the title of "national porcelain."

　　 Overall Characteristics

　　　　Liling’s underglaze polychrome porcelain is not only aesthetically pleasing but also durable, acid- and alkali-resistant, lead-free, and fade-proof, making it a truly eco-friendly product renowned both domestically and internationally. Since the 1960s, Liling’s underglaze polychrome porcelain, including craft art porcelain and high-end daily-use ceramics, has become a bestseller in domestic and international markets. With expanding production, Liling gradually developed into one of China’s major export ceramic production bases.

　　Liling underglaze polychrome porcelain is a relatively new ceramic variety. Produced for just over 20 years during the late Qing and early Republican periods, its limited scope and rarity—fewer than 400 surviving pieces—make it highly valuable. The Palace Museum houses only seven pieces, while the Hunan Provincial Museum holds 17. This porcelain boasts unique artistic beauty, with versatile and lively shapes. Unlike conventional vases, Liling underglaze polychrome porcelain often blends traditional forms with foreign influences, avoiding garish colors in favor of understated elegance. It holds significant cultural, technical, and ornamental value.

　　The production process of underglaze polychrome porcelain is extremely intricate and challenging. High-quality porcelain clay is selected and refined through sedimentation, filtration, and iron removal to ensure purity. Artisans must skillfully shape the clay into thin, smooth forms, a process requiring over a decade of experience. The pigments, derived from glaze materials, rare earths, and non-ferrous minerals (some containing gold), are precious. Painting directly on the unfired body demands exceptional skill, and the firing process—at around 1370°C—is technically demanding, with a success rate below 70%. Only a few kilns can produce it. The finished porcelain features translucent, lustrous patterns with high whiteness, transparency, and glaze hardness. The designs appear visible yet intangible, never fading, evoking a sense of purity and tranquility. The porcelain achieves the ideal of "thin as paper, white as jade, bright as a mirror, and resonant as a chime stone," with high strength, glassy glaze, lead-free safety, acid and wear resistance, and enduring colors, meeting both aesthetic and health-conscious demands while offering superior collectible and practical value.

　　The protected geographical indication area for Liling porcelain is defined by the "Proposal on Delimiting the Geographical Indication Area for Liling Porcelain" (Lizheng Letter [2005] No. 120) issued by the Liling Municipal Government, covering the administrative regions of the Liling Ceramic Science and Technology Industrial Park and 30 townships and subdistricts, including Nanqiao, Fuli, Baitutang, Pukou, Wangxian, Wangfang, Dongbao, Dongfu, Sunjiawan, Sifen, Chuwan, Shentan, Qingshuijiang, Dazhang, Hejiaqiao, Jiashu, Lishanba, Junchu, Shiting, Shenfenggang, Banshan, Xinyang, Xianxia, Huangtazuizi, Fenglinshi, Guanzhuang, Laimenlong Subdistrict, Huangniba Subdistrict, Xishan Subdistrict, and Yangsanshi Subdistrict.