Published on: 2026-07-25
Source: People’s Republic of China — Translation
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Nanchang, July 25 /Xinhua/ — With the inclusion of the craft porcelain industry sites of Jingdezhen on the UNESCO World Heritage List, announced on Saturday at the 48th session of the World Heritage Committee in Busan, this small city in Jiangxi province in eastern China has come into international focus. It is the first industrial heritage site in China to be included on the UNESCO list.
Thanks to its millennia-long history and new status as a World Heritage site, Jingdezhen has become an authoritative international platform for the preservation and development of ceramic art. It attracts creative figures from all over the world and creates favorable conditions for establishing creative, scientific, and tourist partnerships with various countries, including Russia.
Russian ceramic artist Svetlana Kuleshova /K-Liée/ has been an active participant in the Russian-Chinese cultural dialogue for several years. In 2026, she came to Jingdezhen for the fourth time. While her previous visits were short-term, she has now decided to stay here for an extended period to fully dedicate herself to creative and research work. According to the artist, short trips were not enough for a deep immersion in the centuries-old traditions of Jingdezhen porcelain and a full development of her own artistic language.
“Jingdezhen is a place that my soul is drawn to. Here I constantly learn, discover new facets of art, and refine my craft,” says S. Kuleshova. According to her, the history of Russian artistic porcelain spans about three hundred years, while the Chinese porcelain tradition has been developing for over a thousand years. That is why she is convinced that the true value lies not only in borrowing experience but also in the creative dialogue of cultures. Such exchange allows artists to expand the boundaries of their own art by combining national traditions with the invaluable heritage of Jingdezhen—the world-renowned porcelain capital.
The prolonged creative work of the Russian artist in Jingdezhen became possible thanks to the developed local infrastructure of cultural exchange. The international creative platform “Taosichuan” has been implementing the “Migratory Birds” art residency program since 2015, inviting artists from more than 50 countries and regions around the world. Foreign artists are provided with free access to modern studios, which contributes to active international exchange of experience and joint creation of art objects.
“Masters come from all around the world, their creations are distributed globally” – this is the essence of Jingdezhen as a city of creative migrants.
Recently, the Congress of the International Academy of Ceramics /IAC/-2026 was held in Jingdezhen, during which the International Biennale of Ceramic Art “The Future of Ceramics” opened. This prestigious exhibition, which will last until March 2027, received significant academic support from the Russian Academy of Arts /RAH/, the highest official artistic institution in Russia.
As a key official platform for cultural and artistic exchanges between China and Russia, the Russian Academy of Arts (RAH) regularly supports ongoing academic interactions with leading Chinese art universities. In November 2025, a delegation from the Jingdezhen Ceramic University specially visited the RAH, where they held negotiations with its chairman Vasily Tsereteli. The parties reached a consensus to deepen cooperation within the framework of the international ceramics biennale, Sino-Russian workshops on ceramic art, artist residency programs, and joint thematic exhibitions.
The modern multi-level cooperation between the two countries in this field did not arise by chance: the cultural ties between China and Russia in the realm of porcelain have a centuries-old history, progressing from indirect dissemination to direct trade, from aristocratic fashion to local innovations. Russian sinologist Rostislav Berezkin notes that Chinese porcelain stimulated the development of Russian art in the “chinoiserie” style (from the French chinoiserie), influenced local lifestyles, and became a source of inspiration for literary creativity. These exchanges also contributed to the development of the ceramic industry in Russia and Western European countries.
In addition to academic cooperation, Sino-Russian interaction in the field of ceramics is actively developing at the municipal level. In October 2025, the head of the Gorodets district of the Russian Federation, Alexander Mudrov, visited Jingdezhen to participate in the Global Mayors’ Dialogue. Gorodets, a renowned center of folk crafts in Russia, receives up to 900,000 tourists annually. During the visit, the delegation actively absorbed Jingdezhen’s experience in developing cultural and tourism projects.
According to A. Mudrov, Gorodets plans to combine the high skill of Chinese porcelain artists with the unique traditions of Russian decorative art through exchanges and cooperation. In the future, the official city delegation together with Russian artists and craftsmen will come to Jingdezhen again for the joint implementation of new art projects.
Multilateral international cooperation in the field of ceramics vividly demonstrates the modern significance of traditional art. As noted by IAC President Oriol Calvo Vergés, over the past decades China has proven to the world that ceramics is not just a heritage to be preserved, but can also become a powerful driver for urban renewal, education, tourism, innovation, industry, artistic creativity, and international dialogue.
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