China Guide
The Yangzi basin
The Museum of Ceramic History
Opening time: Daily 9am–5pm
Price: ¥50
Address: Out of town on the west side of the river (bus #3 from Zhushan Lu to its terminus on Cidu Dadao, then 15min walk through fields)
To experience the manufacturing side of things, visit the Museum of Ceramic History. It's normally a bit quiet, but if a big tour party is expected, the workshops get fired up and it's much more entertaining.
A fifteen-minute walk through fields leads to a surprising collection of antique buildings divided into two sections. A Ming mansion houses the museum itself, and its ornate crossbeams, walled gardens and gilt eave screens are far more interesting than the second-rate ceramics display, though this covers everything from 1000-year-old kiln fragments through to the Ming's classic simplicity and overwrought, multicoloured extravagances of the late nineteenth century. Next door, another walled garden conceals the AncientPorcelainWorkshop, complete with a Confucian temple and working pottery, where the entire process of throwing, moulding and glazing takes place. Out back is a rickety two-storey kiln, packed with all sizes of the unglazed yellow pottery sleeves commonly seen outside local field kilns – these shield each piece of porcelain from damage in case one explodes during the firing process.