A grand exhibition and seminar focusing on "Jingdezhen Model and the Practice of Chinese-style Modernization Path" was unveiled on Saturday at the Sanbaopeng Art Museum in Jingdezhen city of Jiangxi province, a city renowned for ceramics.

Co-hosted by the Southeast University and the government of Jingdezhen city, the exhibition shows the achievements of 30 years of hard work in studying Jingdezhen by the academic team led by Fang Lili, the director of the Institute of Art Anthropology of the Chinese National Academy of Arts.

The exhibition vividly presents the transformation process of Jingdezhen from an agricultural society to an industrial society, and then to a post-industrial society with urban-rural interaction, using image installations and spatial scene installations. Over a hundred precious oral history videos, thousands of photos documenting the city's changes, maps of artisan gathering places from different periods, population migration maps, production site migration maps, and global trade route maps, among other valuable materials, together constitute the core content of this exhibition.

Notably, the exhibition introduces the academic concept of the "Jingdezhen Model" for the first time. Based on the rich field survey data of Fang Lili's academic team, this concept delves into various dimensions such as sustainable development, urban-rural interaction, heritage resource utilization, and local-global linkages to provide a comprehensive explanation of the unique development model that Jingdezhen has formed through its interaction with the world.

Hu Xuemei, mayor of Jingdezhen, spoke highly of the exhibition. Hu said the exhibition showcases the splendid culture of the millennium porcelain capital and provides strong support for inheriting history, enlightening the present, and facing the future.

"The exhibition is not only a showcase of academic achievements, but also a combination of teaching and practice, demonstrating the Fang team's academic spirit of 'knowledge-seeking from practice'," Sun Litao, vice-principal of the Southeast University, said at the opening ceremony. The research results of Fang's team, especially the introduction of the "Jingdezhen Model", are of significant value for understanding the post-agricultural development model of urban-rural interaction in Jingdezhen and the future rural revitalization in China, he added.

Hao Shiyuan, a member of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and president of the Chinese Anthropological Society, emphasized that the Southeast University's research base for visual image of the Chinese ethnic group, as one of the organizers of this exhibition, is not only one of the first research bases in the country dedicated to strengthening the consciousness of the Chinese ethnic community but also the only one focused on the study of visual images of the Chinese ethnic group, showcasing its unique research strength and characteristics.

If You Go

Jingdezhen Model and the Practice of Chinese-style Modernization Path

May 1-June 11, 2024

Sanbaopeng Art Museum, Sanbaopeng Art Industrial Park, Xichaowu, Sanbao village, Jingdezhen city, Jiangxi province