about variables He Fan
The famous economist He Fan has vowed to spend thirty years, through field research, writing a book "Variables" every year to record the changes that have taken place in China from 2019 to 2049. Follow He Fan who writes variables and find a trend consultant you can trust. See everything in the world clearly and don’t panic.
01
I met a friend in Jingdezhen who was born in this small town. He had been away from home for many years when he grew up. In his childhood memories, Jingdezhen was full of kiln chimneys. I wear a white shirt to go out in the morning, and in the afternoon there is dirt on the collar. He said to people who wanted to go to Jingdezhen: "Don't go. You will be disappointed if you go. This city has completely declined."
In 2022, in order to escape Shanghai in the epidemic area, he returned to his long-awaited hometown. He suddenly discovered that this small town had changed. Of course, the streets are still crowded and noisy, and the street lamps along the street are still wrapped in a thick ring of ceramics, as if they are wearing bloated cotton pants. But the streets are much cleaner, and there are groups of mountain bikers wearing helmets and tights on the newly built country roads. Along Sanbao Road into the mountains, there are studios of ceramic artists along the way. Taoxichuan was originally an old kiln, but now it has been transformed into a cultural and creative park, which is no less impressive than 798 in Beijing. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights, many young people set up stalls here. In front of almost every stall, there are people with mobile phones carrying live broadcasts of goods. The ancient-looking Royal Kiln Museum is open 24 hours a day, and is brightly lit at night, making it look like a dream.
Jingdezhen Royal Kiln Museum
He lamented to me: "I just realized that I was wrong."
In Jingdezhen, I visited a strange man named Tu Ruiming who lives in Shanghai and has a studio in Jingdezhen. He originally worked in the customs and participated in the establishment of Jingdezhen Customs. Tu Ruiming has been influenced by art since childhood and loves tea art. He gradually fell in love with Jingdezhen ceramics. Later, he simply resigned from the system and went to Jingdezhen to make ceramics. He also writes books. His book "The History of Porcelain Picked Up by " has always been at the top of the list of craft books. When Tu Ruiming first came to Jingdezhen, he told his local friends: "Jingdezhen will be better than you can imagine." No one believed him. The sentence he told me the most was "There are so many good things to be discovered in Jingdezhen, and they themselves don't even know how good they are."
There is a kind of beauty called "so beautiful that you don't know how beautiful you are".
Tu Ruiming talks about ceramics
02
Mingfang Garden is located in Fuliang County in the north of Jingdezhen City. Each of the deep residences and courtyards is a wonder to behold when you walk inside. This is where well-known local craft ceramics brands gather. Each compound is like an art museum.
Yubai Linglong specializes in blue and white Linglong porcelain and has a history of three generations. The founder, Li Xianbai, learned ceramic skills from an early age and served as workshop director at Hongguang Porcelain Factory, one of the top ten state-owned porcelain factories in Jingdezhen. In the 1990s, the top ten porcelain factories were restructured one after another, and Li Xianbai founded his own brand, Yubai Linglong. Yubai's exquisite banquet porcelain has been used in the Dubai World Expo and is the state banquet tableware in the banquet hall of the China Pavilion. In the showroom, there are a wide variety of products. At first glance, although it is as gentle as jade and as pure as ice, there is nothing stunning about it. Don't worry. Only when you put it under the light can you see that the plain thin porcelain has clear hollow carvings. This requires using the carving process to carve delicate flower holes on the porcelain embryo, filling them with exquisite glaze, painting them with blue and white flowers, then applying glaze all over the body, and then firing them in the kiln at a high temperature of 1380 degrees.
Jade Cypress Linglong Porcelain
Most brands in Jingdezhen are very similar to Linglong Porcelain: the subtleties cannot be seen at a glance, and there must be light to illuminate them.
For Cheng Dexuan, this light is Su Xun, Su Shi, Su Che, the historical accumulation of the Sansu family that has been passed down for thousands of years. The founder of Chengdexuan, Su Yuanyang , is a descendant of the Sansu family.Their top product is the Sugong kiln, which combines the calligraphy, painting, and poetry of the Song Dynasty with Jingdezhen's pastel and blue and white craftsmanship. Their blue and white tea set has five pieces in total, and each piece has an exquisite picture of Riverside During the Qingming Festival, which complements each other.
In fact, Su Yuanyang never thought about making ceramics in his early years, nor did he think about inheriting Sansu culture. In his early years, he went to sea and did business in Shanghai. An expert advised me and said: "Stop wandering around Shanghai. You have to go back to Jingdezhen to make porcelain. If you can't be among the top three in Jingdezhen, don't come back to me and call me big brother." Su Yuanyang told me that in 2013 and 2014 Around 2000, Jingdezhen Ceramics experienced a very hot market. At that time, the best-selling product was "Master Porcelain" for gift giving. That market quickly declined. The rise of Chengdexuan is due to Su Yuanyang's early start in making high-end ceramic tea sets. He loved tea art, which found a practical application for ceramics. Especially after a trip to Japan, he found the product gap: making ceramics should not only look good, but also inherit traditional craftsmanship, and also pay attention to functionality. The tea sets used to drink black tea and green tea are different, and the tea sets used to drink Pu'er and rock tea are also different. They are thinking about how to improve every day.
ChengdexuanBlue and white porcelain
When I interviewed Yubai Linglong and Chengdexuan, they both told me that their businesses would not be big. This is strange. The quality of their products is so good and they come with a golden brand name, so why can’t they become more popular? Are you too conservative and haven’t learned to use e-commerce live broadcasts to expand publicity? no. Jingdezhen specializes in craft porcelain. Every piece of porcelain is handmade from drawing, cutting, filling, painting, glazing, and kiln firing. It is completely different from daily-use porcelain that relies on industrial mass production. This determines that Jingdezhen's ceramic enterprises can only be refined but cannot grow in size.
Skilled craftsmen are increasingly hard to find. It takes at least three years to train a skilled craftsman. Many people cannot bear this hardship. Su Yuanyang once co-organized a class with the Ceramics Technology School and recruited more than 20 people. In the end, only three or four people stayed to make ceramics. Later, these three or four people also returned to their hometowns. In the ceramics workshop in Jingdezhen, the boss pampers the craftsmen. For example, if the craftsman of a painting is in a bad mood one day, the quality of that work may be affected. Su Yuanyang’s daughter, Su Xinyue, told me that there was a young girl born in the 1990s who wanted to resign. When I asked her why she was resigning, she said, “It’s too comfortable here. I want to go out and try my luck.”
I saw a small trend in China's economy in Jingdezhen: During the period of rapid economic growth, the goal of most companies is to become bigger and stronger. However, if you want to become bigger and stronger, you must use to leverage . However, the leverage ratio of and is too high. Once there is an economic downturn, the risk will suddenly increase. In the future, the companies that are most adaptable to the new economic ecosystem will be companies like Jingdezhen: Although they are not big, I live well.
03
Liu Shiheng was among the first to set up a stall in Taoxichuan. He is a Korean student at Jingdezhen Ceramics University. When setting up a stall, he often encounters an embarrassing thing. Others think he looks Chinese and speaks Chinese fluently, but with a very strange accent. People always ask him where he is from. At first, Liu Shiheng would explain to them. Later, when more people asked, he didn't bother to explain, so he just said, "I am from Inner Mongolia."
Korean international student Yoo Shi-hyung
Yoo Shi-hyung is a native of Seoul, South Korea. I have been interested in art since I was a child, and accidentally studied ceramics when I was in college. During that period, he came to Jingdezhen for exchange and study, and later stayed to study for a master's degree. After completing his master's degree, he studied for a doctorate. He will graduate soon, and he will be the first Korean student to graduate from here.
Why should you go to Jingdezhen to study ceramics? Liu Shiheng said that this is a ceramic ceiling. When making ceramics in Korea, you have to do every process yourself. It is very inconvenient to buy materials and find help.Making ceramics in Jingdezhen is like a fish in water. Buying clay materials, finding craftsmen, and firing kilns are all very convenient. He didn't want to leave once he came, so he became a "foreign scenery drifter" and even married his junior sister from Hunan.
Jingdezhen Ceramics University began to accept international students in the 1950s and 1960s. The first batch were sent by Vietnam. Later, Jingdezhen Ceramics University had international students from more than 40 countries. In the past two years, due to the impact of the epidemic, the number of international students has dropped significantly, but I still met international students from Italy, Russia, Egypt, Cameroon and other countries.
Tasia from St. Petersburg has a love-hate relationship with Jingdezhen. Before coming, she looked at the map and found that Jingdezhen is a southern city and must have a warm and sunny climate. That’s great! As a result, she came here without any thick clothes. When winter comes, my God, this is not a southern city. The house is like a refrigerator, freezing to death. However, because she likes ceramics, she can endure all this. She said that when she first came here, I disliked Jingdezhen very much. It was not like Beijing or Xi'an, and it didn't smell like China in my mind. After staying here for a long time, especially at the old campus of Jingdezhen Ceramics University, you can catch up on all the news and world events in the town just by buying a bun. The teachers and students are like a big family. Ah, the taste of China is here.
Liu Shiheng also feels that he can meet more experts here. There are two Spring and Autumn Fairs in Jingdezhen every year, where ceramic artists from all over the world come to communicate. There is also an official porcelain expo every year, and the visitors will be more high-end. Many art professors and artists from Korean universities will come. At this time, he will be asked to be a translator. He said, I can't see these people in South Korea, and it's very difficult to find them. However, in Jingdezhen, I don't have to look for them, they will come to me on their own initiative. He turned around and asked his junior sister from Hunan: "How do you say that idiom?" The junior sister from Hunan said: "Just wait and wait."
Ceramic artists are not the only ones doing crafts in Jingdezhen. Chen Yingze's studio is deep in an alley, and it would be impossible to find it without a local friend to guide him. A pergola was set up in the small courtyard, filled with flowers and plants. In the two studios downstairs, there are various tools hanging on the walls and on the tables. Upstairs is a small showroom and a small tea room. Chen Yingze is in his early thirties and was born in Zhangzhou, Fujian. After graduating from university in 2013, he founded Nanzuoqi Metal Art Studio. He specializes in making silverware, including silver pots, incense burners, and some imaginative works of art.
Chen Yingze Studio
A local friend who took me to visit Chen Yingze made a bet with me: "You will definitely like his pots when you go, but you will definitely not be able to take one away, because the order for him to make pots has been scheduled until 2023. ." Yingze smiled after hearing this, and rubbed his left arm with his right hand. A small muscle on his left arm looked particularly strong. Yingze is left-handed.
He said that when creating, he thinks hard and when he strikes the hammer, he completely lets go. "My favorite state is to hit silverware hammer after hammer, sometimes with a fast rhythm, sometimes with a slow rhythm, but always well-proportioned. When I think of the time in my life flowing little by little in this rhythm, I feel a kind of feeling in my heart. It feels very solid.”
Why do you have to go to Jingdezhen to make silverware? Yingze said that he had been to Yunnan, where there were many skilled craftsmen who made silverware, but he did not want to be bound by rules and traditions. He had also been to Nanjing and Hangzhou, but the cities were so big that artists would be particularly lonely. The good thing about Jingdezhen is that no one bothers you, but you can meet a lot of people. Among the pedestrians on the street, there may be master craftsmen. If you want to find like-minded friends, it's easy to get together. Yingze said, I just concentrate on my creation, there is no need to go outside to find clients, they will come to me on their own.
This courtyard hidden deep in the alley once hosted Jack Ma . Neighbors heard that Ma Yun had shaken hands with him, and they all came to shake Yingze's hand again to get some wealth. this is nothing.What moved Yingze the most was that a brother from Zhejiang accidentally saw his work in a video and liked it so much that he came to Jingdezhen to find him. There was no specific address, I just knew which street it was on, so my eldest brother went from house to house looking for it, listening carefully for the sound of hammering. Following the sound of the hammer, I finally found Yingze's workshop.
This is another small trend I saw in Jingdezhen. Many young people are very entangled, worried that they will become isolated and lose contact with the outside world when they return to small towns. What I saw in Jingdezhen is exactly the opposite: In the future, small towns can also be connected to the big world.
04
Jingdezhen people are very diligent when they say they are diligent, but they are very lazy when they say they are lazy.
I saw a lot of people doing antiques in Jingdezhen. The craftsmanship is really good, and the things made are as exquisite as the cultural relics seen in the museum. However, with such good craftsmanship, why not innovate? Because antique ones are easy to sell.
Historically, Jingdezhen had its glorious moments, but upon closer inspection, it was the trend of the times that pushed Jingdezhen forward. For example, during the Song Dynasty, the porcelain made in Jingdezhen was neither green nor white, and it was not well-known. However, it happened to be noticed by Zhenzong of the Song Dynasty, and it stood out among the famous kilns.
Yuan blue and white porcelain
Blue and white porcelain is the specialty of Jingdezhen. Blue and white porcelain first appeared in the Yuan Dynasty, but for a long time, people did not know that blue and white porcelain existed in the Yuan Dynasty. The aesthetic preference of the court in the Yuan Dynasty was white porcelain. Although blue and white porcelain existed in the Tang Dynasty, the popularity of Jingdezhen's blue and white porcelain was inseparable from overseas orders from Persia. Muslims like blue and believe that blue and white porcelain will change color when exposed to poison, which can protect it from evildoers. The cobalt material needed to make blue and white porcelain was also introduced to China from Persia in large quantities. This is the famous "sumaliqing". In the final analysis, it was foreign trade orders that stimulated the technological improvement of blue and white porcelain, and then export turned to domestic sales. Blue and white porcelain also became popular in the domestic market.
A peculiar pattern will be found in human history: after a period of rapid economic growth, what follows will be the Renaissance . gives two examples. In the 13th and 14th centuries, Italian city-states accumulated a lot of wealth because they monopolized trade between the East and the West. Later, after the rise of the Ottoman Empire cut off trade routes, Italy's wealthy families began to build churches and fund the arts. At the beginning of the 20th century, big American capitalists made a fortune with the help of railroads, industrialization and finance. They were the so-called "robber barons" in history. However, when the economy was depressed and money was hard to make, they began to invest in education and art. This is why there are Stanford University , Vanderbilt University , Carnegie Mellon University, Guggenheim Museum, etc.
There are two underlying logics behind this.
First, when capital is excessive , only by investing in art and wasting part of the capital can we ensure the scarcity of capital and enable capital to maintain higher returns.
Second, the competition of capital is always intertwined with the competition of the country. The more fierce the competition, the more the loyalty of the subjects is needed. How to make your subjects loyal? It does not rely on empty preaching, but on cultural creation. Only cultural creation can make people sincerely admire and believe in loyalty.
If history is anything to go by, I will see the third trend in Jingdezhen: In the future, a torrent of the times will come, and a Renaissance will emerge. This torrent will once again push Jingdezhen forward. Jingdezhen needs a bigger picture and more patience. The most beautiful time of Jingdezhen has not yet come. When this torrent arrives, Jingdezhen will find that it will be so beautiful that it will shock him.
Housen blue and white porcelain
