User:Chanbinlee001/sandbox

Imperial and Private Kilns
The very first imperial kiln was established in the thirty-fifth year of Hongwu. Before that, there were no systematic regulations on the state-demanded porcelain production. The law stated that, if the quantity of ceramics demanded was big, potters would be conscripted and worked in the imperial kilns in Nanjing; if the quantity was small, the ceramics could be produced in private kilns in Raozhou. In either case, officials from the imperial center were sent to supervise the production. The officials were responsible for making budgets, ensuring quality, and sending products back to the imperial court. Different rules on styles and sizes of the ceramics were put forward by the imperial court and must be strictly followed in the kilns. After the thirty-fifth year of Hongwu, imperial kilns were built, and carried out the the imperial porcelain production in a large scale.

During the mid-Ming period, the demand for porcelain increased, the temporarily assigned officials were not able to handle the project. In Xuande Period, the imperial factory in Jingdezhen was established. The factory was divided into dormitories and pavilions on the north, official offices, and prisons on the east and workshops on the west. There were wells, wood sheds, temples and lounges for potters. The imperial factory in Jingdezhen was not a mere production site but also included government administrative offices.

The imperial factory was divided into twenty-three departments, with each taking charge of different aspects of ceramics production. The work of producing single ware were subdivided and assigned to different departments like department of large vessels, small vessels, painting, carving, calligraphing, rope making and general carpentry. Such custom of subdividing work so that a single piece of a vessel could pass through several hands led to the fact that potters’ signatures were not recorded as did in the private kilns. The division of labor also ensured the uniform style and size of the ceramics.

The number of imperial kilns varies during the Ming period. With less than ten imperial factories in the fifteenth century, the number increased to fifty-eight, later again to sixty-two and then decreased to eighteen.

Imperial orders held a particular duality issue in that they demanded both individuality in the design of porcelain while also demanding large quantities of it. Understandably, these demands came from different sectors of the court that expected particular designs. For example, yellow and green products decorated with mythical flying creatures were specifically requested by the Directorate for Palace Delicacies. The need for both individual design and mass production was a recipe for exhausting demand on porcelain kilns. Many were forced to outsource their production to private kilns in order to meet court quotas. Those who managed the production at imperial factories understood the need for outsourcing as an answer to scalability. Outsourcing must have required a keen sense in picking private kilns that would deliver quality and quantity. Without cooperation and transparency between colleagues of different kilns, the satisfaction of the imperial court was in jeopardy.

In the late Ming period, the corvee system in ceramics reformed with the strong influence of commercialization. Under the new system, a person would not be conscripted to work if he paid a certain amount of money. Many good potters like Wu Wei 吴為 and Zhou Danquan 周丹泉 thus left the imperial kilns and work in the private ones where the pay was better. The late Ming period witnessed a drastic decline in the quality of imperial kilns and a rise of private kilns.

The private kilns existed in the early Ming dynasty and their production constituted a part of the tax income of the government. Apart from making ceramics for people’s everyday life, private kilns also accepted orders from the imperial court. However, making and selling imperial style ceramics in private kilns was strictly forbidden.

During the late Ming period, private kilns rose as imperial kilns declined. Many famous workers escaped from the overworked and underpaid environment in the imperial kilns to private ones. Private kilns were more involved in commercials than the imperial kilns did. In the late Ming period, several private kilns won great popularity among the literati, who were enthusiastic about the antique style porcelain. Examples were the Cui kiln (Chinese: 崔公窑), Zhou kiln (Chinese: 周窑), and Hu kiln (Chinese: 壶公窑). Ceramics in the late Ming dynasty was produced in high quality and quantity, making Jingdezhen one of the earliest commercial centers in the world.

Competition in the porcelain industry erupted following the failure of the corvee system. With government control at a new low, investors were allowed to invest in many means of production, especially in handicraft industries. In Jingdezhen, over 70 percent of the 100,000 families occupying the 6.5 square kilometer town were involved in the porcelain industry.

Of course, the economic resurgence brought on by the porcelain industry carried along its own ramifications.

There existed two sides of the porcelain industry which are described as jiating shougongye(Chinese: 家庭手工业), meaning family run industry and zuofang shougongye (Chinese: 作坊手工业), meaning entrepreneurial industry. Family run industries reveal the ruthless and inhumane side of the porcelain industry as seen in the story of Yang Shi in “An Injustice Caused by a Slight Dispute Over One Penny”. The story vividly describes a scene of domestic violence as a result of the wife, Yang Shi, purchasing a drink worth a penny to soothe her aching stomach. This story sums up the drama within family run industries as a result of the cut-throat approach to profits. Especially within work involving relatives or immediate family, one’s own self worth and concept will be diminished in the face of success for the business.

The cut-throat mentality served to blur the family hierarchy within family run industries to some degree. Porcelain production required both the construction of pots as well as the decorations done after. Within a family-run pottery industry, the women took on this decorating role which helped to increase their value to the family. Men and women had to work harmoniously to produce good quality work and ultimately this became tradition popularized throughout the porcelain industry.

Life as a Potter
In the early Ming dynasty, the population was divided into three categories: military, craftsmen, and peasants. Within the craftsmen system, most of the craftsmen were from the previous dynasty, the Yuan Dynasty (Chinese: 元代), others were prisoners or unemployed people. Craftsmen households members had to work throughout their lifetime, and their status was hereditary. There were two subcategories within the craftsmen system: military craftsmen, who were specialized in producing weapon; the ordinary craftsmen, who worked in various other industries. Potters belonged to the latter subcategory.

In the early Ming period, whenever the court demanded ceramics, labor would be conscripted by the court in different ways. Usually, there were different types of workers in the imperial kilns. Most of the potters were selected from the craftsman households by the local government and served in the imperial kilns for three months in every four years for free; in other cases, workers were recruited from counties near the imperial kilns and paid regularly. Usually the recruited workers were assigned to different departments.

The imperial factory was divided into twenty-three departments, with each department having managers and workers. The number of managers was usually less than five, and the number of workers was usually about ten to twenty.

Making porcelain was not easy. More than half the firings of every kiln resulted in spoilt pieces and were thrown away in the neighborhood of Jingdezhen, resulting a huge dump pf porcelain fragments that still exist today. When the kiln was in action, it was important to control the fire, which ideally should produce a constant temperature. The proper choice, preparation, coloring, firing, and the slip should be made on every stage of the production. The regulations on the potters working in the imperial kiln were severe. Potters were punished for delay, smuggling, producing inferior goods, and other misconducts.

Overworked and underpaid, many potters refused or fled from being conscripted into the imperial kilns. By the time of Xuande period, the number of potters escaping from the corvee was about five thousand; in the first year of Jingtai, the number reached about thirty thousand. There was also a great discrepancy in the number of workers in different departments. Sometimes private kiln workers from the corresponding departments would serve as temporary workers in the imperial kilns. To regulate the potters, the government reformed the policy so that the potters would not have to work in the imperial kilns if they pay certain amount of money per month. The new law implied that the potters were no longer tied to the state government. Unable to stand the hard law and the heavy work, lots of talented workers found their new positions in the private kilns. The imperial kilns suffered from the lost in talented potters and labors, and the quality of the porcelain declined dramatically.

Starting from the ninth year of Jiajing, a new policy was carried out. The government prepared their own materials, utilized the private kilns to make porcelain, and paid the private kilns based on the number of porcelain produced. However, the state was usually not able to pay the amount required.

Post-production
The industrialization of Chinese porcelain during the Ming Dynasty was not possible without a post-production system that honored scalability as well as scarcity. Individual retail sales were important to kilns but wholesale orders were of even higher importance. In reality, wholesale orders were the backbone of porcelain economics. Without these orders that required months to a year of work to complete, demand would have definitely been lacking.

Merchants entered provinces with little knowledge of how porcelain trade was conducted. They relied on brokers to introduce them to reliable kilns and ultimately negotiate prices. Once established, merchants took on negotiating matters. In particular, brokers helped alleviate risk for many kilns by analyzing the integrity of buyers. Due to the guild-esque nature between brokers and kiln owners, guilty knowledge of the buyer’s secrets was common talk. If a buyer was deemed as unreliable, word spread throughout the province of such news. Potters claimed the license to know who the bad buyers were. This dangerous knowledge had the ability to ruin a buyer’s reputation but on the contrary contributed to the success of kilns.

In observing court orders, porcelain was required for culinary, religious, and displaying purposes. Since porcelain was often used once and thrown away by the court, imperial orders were at a continuous flow in porcelain factories. Demand was often too high for kilns to meet which hints at the necessity for scalability.

From their respective kilns, fine porcelain was distributed over sea and land to Southeast Asia, Japan and the Middle East. The magnitude of foreign trade can be understood in a record showing over sixteen million pieces circulating through a Dutch East India Company. The land transportation showed the intensity of labor in the porcelain industry. Dozens of carts sent from Mongolia, Manchuria, Persia and Arabic countries were loaded in the Ming capital full of porcelain and other Chinese goods. Some carts reached thirty feet in height which must have required extreme attention to avoid broken porcelain. Due to the hollowness of porcelain vases, they were filled with soil and beans. The growth of the bean roots helped porcelain withstand further pressure during transportation. In order to effectively transport large amounts of porcelain, as much space in carts must have been used indicated by the thirty foot high carts. Knowing the risk that came with placing fragile porcelain next to and on top of one another, handlers of the porcelain mitigated that risk through the soil and bean method.

Like the silk industry, the porcelain industry claimed merit for its mass producing capabilities. Potters from lower economic backgrounds stuck true to their repetitive methods mostly due to the high risk in attempting new and not tested methods. Trying new techniques could result in the loss of an entire month’s worth of work so for these potters, changing their method was not a luxury they could afford. These potters were found in peasant societies outside of Jingdezhan and highlight the particular code that limited their imaginative potential. For potters within Jingdezhan, the code that governed the way their products were created was greatly influenced by international markets. These markets inspired creativity and innovation as seen in how “Jingdezhen and other pottery centers produced ceramic versions of reliquaries, alms bowls, oil lamps, and stem-cups” The difference in code did not necessarily contribute to a hierarchical division but rather a diversification in the personality behind Chinese porcelain.

Foreign trade was not always beneficial for potters because the further away that products had to go from the source (Ex: Jingdezhan) the more vulnerable cargo became. In examining a report of a Spanish voyage, about a fifth of a Chinese ship crew were killed when met by a Spanish voyager of the name Juan de Salcedo. The two ships that were raided held many Chinese valuables including porcelain and most likely were used to trade off the coast of Midoro. Overall, international markets offered great potential for potters seeking greater wealth but unfortunately came with a vulnerability to crime.

Trade on an international scale required organization between chiefs and potters. Throughout the Southeast Asian trading ports, chiefs had the power to set port fees as well as control interactions between elite merchants and foreign traders. By possessing the license to impose fees, chiefs were able to profit on almost every transaction within their respective markets and it serves to boost their brilliance in constructing such a diverse market. Potters of luxury porcelain would have to work under the rules set by the chiefs and thus their relationship constructed a hierarchy.