10-08-2005 Jing De Zhen porcelain factory / museum
Buddha has smiled and favored us with a sunrise!

Prior to getting on our tour bus Leslie and I went for a short walkabout. We saw a lady on one of the tricycle truck contraptions typically overloaded. She stopped and deposited a tattered blanket into the trash. She was but a few feet away when another lady came over to inspect the discarded treasure. She found it worthy and added it to her collection of stuff. On the way to the bus I was interviewed by a local TV station. They were interested in what I liked about China, why we came, what was interesting etc. Two hour bus ride to the birthplace of porcelain. Nice scenery along the way, lot of farmers working their rice fields during harvest time. It was tough to take photos from the bus due to speed and very bumpy highway. Jingdezhen is a working museum of how pottery was/is made. Workman could spin a beautifully shaped rice bowl in abut 30 seconds, another girl could paint and decorate one in about the same time. The huge kiln that was wood fired, took a master to keep the temperatures correct for high quality porcelain. All the dynasty emperors’ porcelain was produced here. Of course we did the mandatory stop for shopping at a porcelain market. Lots of shops, all with pretty much the same things with the exception of one that specialized in Communist heroes’ portraits done on porcelain. Beautiful weather all day!