China has accelerated the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries in recent years, and Jingdezhen, a world-famous porcelain city in east China's Jiangxi Province, has experienced new vitality because of this policy shift. Sun Qiang is a ceramist from the city of Taiyuan in north China's Shanxi Province. He is one of the entrepreneurs in Jingdezhen.
He started his business about 10 years ago in just a small room measuring a few dozen square meters. "Looking at the scale now, you can see how we've really benefited from the opportunities of this era over the past few years, which has allowed us to grow to our current size," said Sun, referring to his current studio which is about 500 square meters. Sun believes Jingdezhen has benefited from the local government's efforts to hasten the renovation of old factories.
"The environment in Jingdezhen over the past couple of years has been great, with a large influx of tourists," he said. "If someone wants to get into design, launch a product, or start their studio, I believe there are far more opportunities now than there were in the past." Taoxichuan Ceramic Art Avenue is a new landmark in Jingdezhen.
It was once a ceramic factory built in the 1950s, and was repurposed using the existing industrial-era buildings as a foundation and transformed into a cultural and creative district, which began operating in October 2016. Gang Hao, general manager of Taoxichuan Ceramic Art Avenue, told CGTN that they are fundamentally eng.