Zhonghe Kiln Site

　　The Zhonghe Kiln Site was a folk kiln active from the late Northern Song to the late Southern Song Dynasty, primarily producing porcelain for export. It was designated as a Key Cultural Relics Protection Unit of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region on August 25, 1981.

　　The kiln site is located in Zhonghe Village, Tengzhou Town, Tengxian County (formerly Chengguan Township, also known as Laoyatang in the old name of Zhonghe Village, Tandong Town), about 10 kilometers from the county seat on the eastern bank of the Beiliu River. Over 20 porcelain kilns are mainly distributed near the Zhonghe Village Committee, on a small hill along the Beiliu River stretching approximately 2 kilometers in length and 0.5 kilometers in width. Today, kiln molds—saggers—are still piled up in mountains and scattered everywhere. In the past, it was common to see locals using saggers as building materials or for paving roads. The abundance of these remnants is undoubtedly the best evidence of the large-scale production that once took place here.

　　The structure of the Zhonghe Kiln is a sloping dragon kiln, built along the mountain terrain and rectangular in shape. It consists of four parts: the kiln door, firebox, kiln bed, and chimney. There is no uniform standard for the kiln’s length and width, which generally range from 10 to 60 meters in length and 1.5 to 3 meters in width. The firing method used in the early period was the single-sagger upright firing technique, while the later period also employed the stack firing method. The use of saggers prevented the ware from direct contact with the flames, avoided contamination, and improved the smoothness of the finished products.

　　Zhonghe porcelain features elegant shapes and a wide variety of styles, including various types of bowls, cups, plates, saucers, cups, washbasins, boxes, jars, pots, jars, bottles, lamps, stoves, basins, incense burners, soul vases, pillows, waist drums, and printing molds. Daily-use items such as bowls, cups, plates, and saucers were the main products. The body of the ware is fine, white, thin, yet hard, producing a metallic sound when struck. The glaze is glossy, semi-transparent, and bluish-white. Shadow-blue glaze is the primary type, followed by white glaze. The glazing is even, and the bond between the body and glaze is tight. The shapes of the wares are diverse, with pots, bottles, and jars often made in the shape of fruits, while bowls, cups, plates, and saucers frequently feature petal-like designs.

　　The decorations on Zhonghe porcelain are rich and varied, with neat and rigorous patterns, clear and smooth lines, and themes full of folk life elements. The main decorative motifs are entwined floral patterns, including cut flowers, entwined flowers and leaves, entwined scrolling leaves, fish in the sea, children playing in the water, aquatic plants, and birds. There is a rich variety of printing molds. The porcelain molds come in styles such as pointed mushroom-shaped, hemispherical mushroom-shaped, and flat-topped. The patterns carved on the printing surfaces are divided into intaglio and relief types, which are quite distinctive. One bird-and-flower printing mold has the year mark “Made in the spring of the JiXi Year (1238) by Nian Long Can” inscribed on its back.

　　This kiln site was discovered during the 1963 cultural relics survey in the Wuzhou region. The Autonomous Region Museum conducted two trial excavations and kiln clean-ups here, both independently and in collaboration with Sun Yat-sen University. Li Huibing, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Ancient Ceramics Research Association, visited the site for inspection on two separate occasions.