China Porcelain Tour

Destinations: Shanghai, Jingdezhen, Wuyuan

Tour Features:

China Porcelain Tour: The Porcelain Capital & the Land of Blue-and-White (8 Days)

For a thousand years, one Chinese city made the porcelain that conquered the world. Jingdezhen - "the porcelain capital" - is where emperors commissioned their finest ware, where the blue-and-white style that dazzled Asia, the Middle East and Europe was born, and where the streets still sing with the sound of the potter's wheel. This 8-day journey places you in the middle of that living tradition. You begin in Shanghai, then travel south to Jiangxi to spend three days inside the porcelain world: standing at a potter's wheel under a master's hand, painting your own cobalt-blue design, watching a kiln open to reveal the finished pieces, and tracing the imperial history of the city's kilns and museums. You then cross into the painted countryside of Wuyuan, whose white-wall, black-roof villages and riverside landscapes are the very scenes porcelain painters have drawn for centuries - completing the journey from clay, through fire, to the finished masterpiece that will be shipped home to your own table.

Best Time to Visit

• Spring (April – May) - the classic season: pleasant temperatures, the mountains of Jiangxi green, and Wuyuan's rapeseed flower fields in golden bloom around the white-wall villages - the exact palette of a blue-and-white landscape.
• Autumn (September – November) - cool, clear days for workshop sessions and kiln visits; late October brings the annual Jingdezhen International Ceramic Fair, the porcelain world's biggest gathering, plus harvest-color scenery in Wuyuan.
• Winter (December – February) - quiet studios and low season prices; kilns fire year-round, so the workshop experience is unchanged - just dress warmly for the countryside.
• Summer (June – August) - hot and humid in Jiangxi, with heavier rain; the afternoons are best spent indoors at the wheel, and the green terraces are at their most lush.

Best overall window: April – May and September – November.

Tour Highlights

• Turn the potter's wheel in the porcelain capital - throw your own bowl or cup under a master's hand in Jingdezhen, the city that made the world's most famous ceramics for a thousand years.
• Paint your own blue-and-white piece - with cobalt pigment and a fine brush, create a lotus, dragon or landscape that is entirely yours.
• Watch the kiln open - the dramatic moment your glazed piece emerges transformed from fire, at temperatures over 1,200°C.
• Walk the imperial kiln sites - the ruins and ancient workshops where emperors' porcelain was fired, from the Song to the Qing.
• Trace a thousand years at the China Ceramics Museum - the world's finest porcelain collection, from Song celadon to Qing famille-rose.
• Stroll the porcelain street - studios, kilns and shops lining the old town alleys, where Jingdezhen still lives and fires today.
• Escape to Yaoli Ancient Town - the mountain kiln village where the ceramic story began, with water-powered workshops and Ming-Qing houses.
• Paint the landscape behind the porcelain - Wuyuan's white-wall villages and riverside scenes, the very images porcelain painters have drawn for centuries.
• Bring home a true masterpiece - your own fired porcelain, packed and shipped to your door — a piece of Jingdezhen made by you.

Optional Extensions

• Add Yixing (2 days) - the famous purple-clay teapot city in Jiangsu, where you shape your own teapot; combine with Hangzhou and Suzhou on a Yangtze delta craft journey.
• Add Longquan (2 days) - home of celadon (qingci), the jade-green porcelain treasured for centuries, in the tea country of Zhejiang.
• Add Hangzhou (2 days) - the lake city on the way back, with its tea hills and National Silk Museum, completing the craft triangle of porcelain, silk and tea.
• Study group version - structured modules on ceramic chemistry (kaolin, glazes, high-temperature firing), art history (the blue-and-white style), and trade history (porcelain's journey along the Silk Road and Maritime routes), with a sketchbook and firing log for each student.
• Timing add-on - visit in October to catch the annual Jingdezhen International Ceramic Fair, the porcelain world's annual gathering.

Itinerary:

Day 1 - Shanghai Arrival Arrive at Shanghai Pudong or Hongqiao International Airport. Evening welcome dinner, and a first stroll along the Bund, where the skyline introduces the modern gateway city that has traded with the world for two centuries. Overnight in Shanghai.

Day 2 - Shanghai to Jingdezhen: Into the Porcelain Capital Morning: explore the ceramics galleries of the Shanghai Museum - a brilliant orientation in the history of Chinese porcelain, from Tang three-color ware to the blue-and-white of the Ming court. Midday: take the high-speed rail or flight to Jingdezhen (about 4–5 hours by train). Evening: walk the lantern-lit streets of the old town and the famous "porcelain street," where studios and kilns line the alleys. Overnight in Jingdezhen.

Day 3 - Jingdezhen: The Imperial Kilns & Your First Turn of the Wheel Morning: visit the Imperial Kiln Ruins (Yuyachang) and the ancient kiln sites where the emperors' porcelain was fired, with a guide explaining the imperial factory system and the legendary techniques of the city. Afternoon: join your first pottery workshop - meet your master, knead the kaolin clay, and throw your first bowl or cup on the potter's wheel. Your teacher's hands will guide yours through the rhythm of centring, opening and raising the clay. Evening: watch a demonstration of the full production process, from raw clay to glazed piece. Overnight in Jingdezhen.

Day 4 - Jingdezhen: The Museum, Blue-and-White Painting & the Kiln Opening Morning: visit the China Ceramics Museum (Jingdezhen China Ceramics Museum) , the finest collection of Chinese porcelain in the world - trace a thousand years from Song celadon to Qing famille-rose, and see how Jingdezhen's ware circled the globe. Afternoon: return to the workshop to paint your dried piece in blue-and-white - a lotus, a dragon, a landscape, or your own design - using cobalt pigment under your teacher's eye. Then the highlight: watch your piece enter the kiln and witness the kiln opening, the dramatic moment when clay, glaze and pigment are transformed forever into porcelain. Overnight in Jingdezhen.

Day 5 - Jingdezhen Countryside: Yaoli Ancient Town & the Source of Porcelain A day outside the city: drive to Yaoli Ancient Town, the historic kiln village in the mountains where Jingdezhen's ceramic story began - walk the ancient water-powered workshops, the Ming-Qing houses and the forested gorge, and try the local ceramics that still fire in small traditional kilns. Alternatively, choose the Fuliang ancient county town and its old brick kilns. This is the quieter, slower side of the porcelain country. Overnight in Jingdezhen or Yaoli.

Day 6 - Jingdezhen to Wuyuan: The Landscape Behind the Porcelain Morning: drive (about 1.5–2 hours) to Wuyuan, the celebrated "most beautiful countryside in China" - the white-wall, black-roof villages, rainbow bridges and golden terraces of Jiangxi's northeast. Here, in villages like Likeng and Jiangwan, you will see the very scenes that Chinese porcelain painters have depicted for centuries: the gabled houses, the riverside washing stones, the misty hills. For painters, a sketching session by the water is arranged. Overnight in a Wuyuan village guesthouse.

Day 7 - Wuyuan to Shanghai: The Finished Piece & the Journey Home Morning: a final village walk and a last look at the landscape of blue and white. Midday: return to Shanghai by high-speed rail via Shangrao (about 4–5 hours total). Evening: farewell dinner, and a visit to a porcelain boutique - or simply rest before departure. Overnight in Shanghai.

Day 8 - Shanghai Departure Free morning for last-minute shopping or a canal-side stroll. Transfer to the airport for departure - your own Jingdezhen porcelain, glazed, fired and packed, will follow you home within a few weeks.