Porcelain for posterity

An ongoing exhibition in Beijing showcases the excellence of the 'five great kilns' of imperial China. Lin Qi reports.

Some 40 years ago, the late Chen Wenzeng became an artisan at a porcelain-making factory in his native Hebei province. There he met two workers, Lin Zhanxian and He Huan. The three of them then devoted themselves to restoring the glory of Ding ware.

For many centuries, between the Tang (618-907) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties, kilns in Hebei's Dingzhou county, now called Quyang, where Chen was born, produced white ceramics, making the Ding kilns one of ancient China's "five great kilns".