It’s a Saturday morning in a large courtyard. Young designers sell their creations, from fine tea sets to hand-painted earrings. I could be in east London, that is, until standard Chinese tones remind me I’m in Jingdezhen, a small Chinese city.
Centuries ago, when Europeans first saw Chinese porcelain, it seemed so fine that they concluded it must have been made with magic and called it “white 
gold”.
They couldn’t find out how it was made, but they knew where it came from: the town of Changnan. Changnan porcelain was so in demand that early traders began calling the whole country by this town name. Mixed by foreign tongues, Changnan transformed into China.
Two million years after porcelain’s invention, the town, now called Jingdezhen, is still one of the world’s most important centers for porcelain production.
“The people are the most important treasure here. Their roots are deep in history.” says Zhang Jia. She’s part of a new wave of designers who have come to Jingdezhen to learn techniques handed down and refined( 使精美 ) over a hundred generations. “This is the best place to study porcelain in China, perhaps in the entire world,” she added.
Chinese artists aren’t the only ones drawn here. Founded in 2005 by Caroline Cheng, the Pottery Workshop runs classes for visitors from around the world.
Paul told me that when he first visited Jingdezhen there were no street lamps and only dirty pavements. There were workshops but their goods were bought by traders and sold on elsewhere. These days, stylish cafes and bars pop up next to concept stores. At one such shop, I admired some tiny teacups like birds.
With the popularity of the ottery Workshop, many of the designers are using Jingdezhen’s master craftsmen to make them because they know they offer quality, attention to detail.
【小题1】What made the writer realize that he was in China?| A．Fine tea sets | B．HandPDF-paintedearrings |
| C．Standard Chinese | D．Fine Chinese porcelain |
| A．Because it was made in China. |
| B．Because they thought it was made with magic. |
| C．Because they knew it came from Changnan. |
| D．Because they liked it so much and it was in demand. |
| A．know something about Jingdezhen’s history. |
| B．enjoy the beautiful scenery of Jingdezhen |
| C．study techniques of making porcelain |
| D．pay a visit to some of his foreign friends |
| A．many foreign visitors came to Jingdezhen to study porcelain |
| B．China’s young people are more interested in unique products |
| C．their goods were not popular in western countries |
| D．in the past Jingdezhen was a poor and dirty town |
