XIAO Xuan, LI Songjie, LI Xinghua

(Research Institute of Ceramic Aesthetics, Jingdezhen Ceramic Institute, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi 333403)

Abstract: Cultural landscape is an important research concern of cultural geography. In this study, the landscape evolution of Jingdezhen ceramic industrial settlements was examined through on-the-spot investigation and literature research. Results show that four factors caused the landscape evolution of Jingdezhen ceramic industrial settlements: nature, politics, culture and technology. The historical continuum of the landscape evolution of Jingdezhen industrial ceramic settlements can be divided into three periods: the Song and Yuan Dynasties when Jingdezhen ceramic industries scattered in the rural areas around Jingdezhen, and the ceramic makers were engaged half in the craft and half in farming; the Ming and Qing Dynasties when the settlements were centralized with most of the ceramic -making activities concentrated in the narrow urban area stretching from north to south along the Changjiang River; and the period from the Republic of China to now in which Jingdezhen ceramic industrial settlements spread out from the urban center in a radial pattern.

Key words:  settlement landscape of ceramics; spatial distribution; driving factors