The history of porcelain of Ningbo is about 2,000 years, dating back to the celadon ware produced in the Yue Kiln in Yuyao.
Ningbo is the birthplace of the Yue celadon. Archeologists found that China already had pottery ware 8,000 years ago and that porcelain began to appear in the East Zhou Period and celadon began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. As Ningbo was part of the Yue Kingdom, the celandon kilns in Ningbo were called Yue Kilns. Yue Kilns were located near the Shanglin Lake of Cixi, scattering around Baze Lake, Du Lake, Shang’ao Lake and Yinding Lake, totaling about 120. The celadon baking began in the Eastern Han Dyansty and got prospered in the Tang and Song dynasties. The celadon works in the earlier periods were simple and rough, while in the later periods (Tang and Song dynasties) they appeared more delicate and smooth, similar to jade items. The celadon works produced in the Shanglin Lake area were soon taken as tribute to the Court. In addition to resplendent and crystal glaze, the decorative patterns were diversified: dragons in water, phoenixes in sunshine, butterlies in pairs, peacock showing off features, mandarin ducks kissing each other, flying cranes in the air, birds amid flowers, tortoise with water lily, fish with water chestnut, parrot holding branch, fairies, monks and performers, to name just a few.
More than 140,000 celadon items produced in Yue Kilns were presented as tributes to the Court and many more were exported abroad each year. Via the Mingzhou Port (Ningbo Port), the celadon exports went to Japan, Korea, Viet Nam, Cambodian, Malaysia, the Philippines, India, East Africa and North Africa. A great many celadon relics have been discovered in India, Iran, Egypt and Japan, which well proved that Ningbo was the starting port of the Celadon Route by Boat.
The Yuyao celadon is developing further. Having inherited the traditional technology, researchers have worked out dozens of new recipes and successfully developed the fine china and the bone china. The fine china in particular can be compared in quality to the china baked in Jingdezhen of Jiangxi Province.
