GUO Jianhui, QIU Ting

(Jingdezhen Ceramic University, Jingdezhen 333403, Jiangxi, China)

Extended abstract:

[Background and purposes] Jingdezhen teaware, an outstanding exemple of the long-standing synergy between Chinese porcelain culture and tea culture, constitutes a vital form of living heritage. It embodies a dynamic cultural complex that integrates material artifacts, technical know-how, symbolic meanings and social practices. Within the current discourse on cultural heritage, which foregrounds "creative transformation and innovative development", the challenge of understanding and steering the evolution of such living heritage remains underexplored. Existing scholarship on Jingdezhen ceramics has largely concentrated on stylistic analysis, archaeological chronology and economic assessment, while systematic inquiry employing a holistic living-heritage framework to examine the contemporary developmental trajectories of specific artifact types, such as teaware, remains scarce. This study was therefore aimed to fill this gap. The main objective is to unpack the multidimensional ontology of Jingdezhen teaware, critically evaluate its current state of inheritance and innovation, identify structural obstacles and propose a comprehensive theoretically informed pathway framework for its sustainable revitalization.

[Methods] A multidisciplinary qualitative approach was employed to situate within cultural heritage studies. The methodological framework is founded on a holistic analysis of living heritage, incorporating insights from art history, the sociology of technology and material culture studies. Firstly, a systematic literature review was undertaken to establish a theoretical foundation and delineate research gaps. Secondly, in-depth fieldwork was conducted in Jingdezhen, employing semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, including master artisans, heritage practitioners, designers, enterprise managers and cultural scholars, participant observation in workshops and production sites and case studies of representative kilns and brands. Thirdly, the collected data were critically analyzed to deconstruct the intrinsic constitution of teaware into four interrelated dimensions, i.e., material carrier, craft system, symbolic meaning and social practice. This analytical scheme enabled a systematic diagnosis of both achievements and enduring challenges in the contemporary inheritance and innovation of Jingdezhen teaware. Finally, drawing on this diagnosis, a targeted five-pathway strategic framework was deductively formulated.

[Results] The study was attempted to reveal the Jingdezhen teaware as a composite, entity encompassing a material carrier shaped by form, craftsmanship and texture, a craft system reliant on the intergenerational transmission of tacit knowledge within social networks, a symbolic meaning that is historically layered and subject to continuous reinterpretation and a social practice sustained through use, circulation and community participation. While acknowledging progress in safeguarding, product diversification, branding and industrial scaling, four persistent structural challenges were identified, i.e., a systemic disruption in craft transmission and loss of tacit knowledge, a lack of endogenous innovation manifesting in imitation and superficial use of technology, a functional disconnect between vessels and tea, where aesthetic considerations often overshadow practical utility, and a superficial articulation of cultural meaning detached from deeper philosophical foundations. In response, an integrated five-pathway framework was proposed. This framework entails a shift from static preservation to sustaining a living practice network, advancing from replication to the creative translation of cultural genes and establishing a multi-tiered intellectual property governance system. It was further aimed to advocate for moving from one-way communication to the co-creation of meaning through immersive and multisensory education, thus being able to build a cultural value community by deepening porcelain-tea integration and developing a systematic intellectual property mechanism to nurture contemporary cultural expression.

[Conclusions] The contemporary development of Jingdezhen teaware requires a fundamental paradigm shift, from static preservation to living inheritance, from antiquarian replication to cultural translation, from policy-centric protection to ecological cultivation, from one-way communication to narrative symbiosis and from isolated product development to an integrated ecosystem. The proposed five-pathway framework presents a systematic, theoretically grounded and actionable roadmap for this transition. It is intended not only to address the specific challenges confronting Jingdezhen teaware but also offer a transferable analytical model and strategic reference for the sustainable innovation and revitalization of analogous craft-based cultural heritage in China and beyond. The effective implementation of this framework holds considerable potential for fostering new qualitative productive forces in the cultural sector, strengthening cultural confidence and advancing the global circulation of Chinese culture.

Key words: cultural heritage; Jingdezhen teaware; inheritance and innovation