Previously on Fred’s China Trip Day #6 – Studying Chinese Education, Fred and company visited two more schools in the Providence of Jingdezhen. They spent the night in their fifth hotel, the Jingdezhen Largos Hotel. It’s Saturday, November 14th, 2015. Good morning, this is your 2015 China fashion news briefing.
7a The Jingdezhen Largos Hotel was wonderful and this morning was my first no rain, clear air day in China. The Largos Hotel is in the heart of the vibrant and busy commercial district of Jingdezhen, China’s prestigious porcelain capital. Finishing breakfast, I was thrilled to be wearing shorts and walking around outside.
China Ceramic Pottery Making – Jingedezhen
10:30a Our first stop in Jingedezhen was to the Ceramic Historical Museum. Located in Panlongshan, the western suburb of Jingdezhen City, the museum has a rich collection of over 5,000 articles. The items on display include ceramics from past dynasties, historical information about ceramics, precious collections of paintings and calligraphies.
In addition to the wide variety of articles in the museum exhibit, the antique architecture is in two parts: Ming Garden and Qing Garden. The ‘Wangbo Residence’ in Ming Garden is a house in the typical Hui style. The two most representative buildings in Qing Garden are the ‘Yuhuantang,’ a memorial temple in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and the ‘Dafu Residence,’ meaning a residence for scholars in the Qing Dynasty. The two gardens are composed of ancient kiln-workshops, ancient kilns, and ancient structures that were originally scattered throughout Jingdezhen City but have now been collected here by the government.
Fashion Alert – Even Genghis Khan Wears Green Crocs
I have gotten a lot of flack about wearing my green Crocs out in public. I want to come clean with the truth. This was a “pack, repack, leave a suitcase here, pick it up later there,” kind of trip. I never intended, technically, to wear my green Crocs out in public, other than the plane ride over. However, I left my dress and tennis shoes in my Beijing suitcase on the first day in China. I am excited to be rejoining them tonight. However, as one who fully owns his mistakes, “the green Crocs” have now become my calling card. All of China is embracing my new trendy fashion. For even Genghis Khan wears green crocs…
We got some free time to do a little shopping. The local vendors barter on the price of EVERYTHING. Once you show interest they pretty much follow you around and don’t leave you alone. Furthermore, you can get almost anything for a fraction of what you would pay in the States. My new buddy, Tony seen left, is the only other person in my group who wears shorts. Then man has great taste. I bought a green bracelet for my daughter, and studied some other trinkets to consider later.
I found a coffee shop and stopped to drink and use their free Wifi. I have found about 75% of the places we visit have free internet. So far, I have not had to use any cellular service. We ate lunch and traveled to the Royal Kiln site in Jingdezhen. I stared out the window and took a ton of pictures of the city life of Jingdezhen.
2p We arrived at the Kiln site in Zhushan of Jingdezhen and large and beautiful area, reconstructed to make and paint pottery. In 2002, a joint team of researchers and Chinese archaeologists, carried out two excavations at the royal kiln site in Zhushan of Jingdezhen, East China’s Jiangxi Province, unearthing wall remains, kiln ruins and house foundations in an area of 788 square meters.
A group of six gourd-shaped kilns were discovered arranged in a straight line. The kilns, dating back to the Hongwu to Yongle period of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), were all built with wedge-shaped red bricks and consisted of a kiln door, fire chamber, front chamber, rear chamber and protective walls. This is the first time that gourd-shaped kilns were discovered in royal kilns.
Large quantities of porcelain craftworks were harvested at the site, such as bottles, pots, jars, bowls, plates, cups, flowerpots and boxes, to name a few, most with inscriptions. Various types of porcelain from the early and mid Ming Dynasty were the pride of the excavation, which produced some of the rarest porcelain in history.
Our group divided into several groups. I was in the group painting plates of pottery seen left. Several other where actually getting their hand dirty and shaping pottery from clay (see featured image at the very beginning).
I resisted hard not to play or sing the Righteous Brothers Unchained Melody or re-enact Patrick Swayze’s Ghost.
After shopping we stopped for a quick dinner before driving back to the airport to fly back to Beijing. This has been a whirlwind day and most of us slept on the plane.
10:30p We land in Beijing and are heading to the hotel to sleep. In a half wake trance, I grab my bag and walk toward the last moving escalator before leaving the airport. As I approach, I happen to look down and see the power of my influence in China. Here is the first sign asking you to watch your green Crocs when entering. The green Croc fashion has begun!
Images from Fred’s China Trip 11/14/2015
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