Porcelain legacy molds brighter future

At a porcelain workshop in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi province, a craftsman carries a pale, freshly shaped vessel toward a kiln. Across the city, young visitors bend over potter's wheels trying to mold wet clay into cups of their own. Clay links the similar, yet distinct scenes: one is rooted in skills honed and passed down over centuries, the other is driven by a new generation eager to learn.

Jingdezhen, known as China's "porcelain capital", has more than 2,000 years of pottery-making history and over 1,000 years of imperial-kiln production. By the 16th century, it had become the center of the world's handicraft porcelain industry.

Its wares have traveled to courts and homes worldwide, carrying Chinese techniques and aesthetics far beyond the city limits. For years, porcelain shaped global trade, linking China with the wider world.