Fir Belt
Ching Te Chenng , The Capital of Porcelain
Situated in the northeastern part of Jiangxi Province, Jingdezhen, the Capital of Porcelain in China, is at the juncture of Jiangxi Province and Anhui Province and bounded on the east by Zhejiang province. The city is also surrounded by such famous tourist attractions as Mountain Lushan, Mountain Dragon-and-Tiger, Mountain Sanqing, Mountain Huangshan, Mountain Jiuhua and others. There are two great lakes-Lake Poyang and Lake Qiandao (One-Thousand-Island)-at both sides of the famous city. The whole region of Jingdezhen is on the transition belt between the plateau of Lake Poyang and Mountain Huangshan and Mountain Huaiyu. The northeastern and northwestern parts of the region are mountainous and its eastern and southern parts, hilly land and plains. The topographical features slope down from the northeast towards the southwest.
Jingdezhen has favorable natural conditions and subtropical weather. The annual average temperature is around 17 and the average frost-free period is 285 days. It has abundant rainfall and sunlight. The warm and wet weather is quite appropriate for the growth of crops and plants so that the natural vegetation, especially pines, firs and bamboos, is luxuriant. Its tea is also quite well-known. Of the most important is that Jingdezhen has a great reserve of such high-quality raw materials as Kaolin and porcelain stone for porcelain production in its mountainous area. The main river flowing through the Jingdezhen region is River Changing which rises in Mountain Dashing in Queen County of Annuli Province. It flows through the whole region from the north to the south and empties into the Yangtze River through Lake Poyang. The three tributaries in the region of Jingdezhen River East, River West and River South-empty into River Changjiang at different reaches. Most of the places through which the three tributaries flow are the important sources of raw materials for porcelain production and fuels. In the ancient times when the land traffic was not quite well, the water transportation on River Changjiang and its tributaries played an important role in the development of the porcelain industry in Jingdezhen. Jingdezhen was calledChangnan Town as it was mainly situated on the south of River Changjiang. It was said that the English word ofChina was evolved from the pronunciation ofChangnan In the Jingde Period of the Song Dynasty, the name ofChangnan Town was changed into Jingdezhen or Jingde Town From then on, it became more and more famous for her exquisite porcelains described asbeing as white as jade, as thin as paper, white bright as glass and as sweet-sounding as the ancient chime stone Now it is the universally acknowledged Capital of Porcelain.
