An inheritor of traditional porcelain-making techniques demonstrates her craft at the Taoyangli Historical and Cultural District in Jingdezhen in June. ZHU XINGXIN/CHINA DAILY

　　"In Jingdezhen, you don"t just make artwork. You grow with others," she said.

　　Visitors are also a part of the renewal drive. At the Jingdezhen Ancient Kiln and Folk Customs Museum, Arjun Gurung from Nepal sat at a potter"s wheel as a local artisan guided his hands. "It was only after experiencing the process of making porcelain myself that I truly understood more about Chinese culture and history," he said.

　　Foreign visitors tour the museum. ZHU XINGXIN/CHINA DAILY

　　Residency programs are bringing Chinese and international artists to local studios. French ceramic artist Manon Valle, who has returned three times, described Jingdezhen as "a rare ecosystem for creation".

　　Tourists visit the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum in June. The museum has become one of the city"s landmark destinations. ZHU XINGXIN/CHINA DAILY

　　Today, many more hands are joining the story to learn and pass these skills on: more than 60,000 "Jingpiao" — a phrase used to describe people from elsewhere who live and work in Jingdezhen — have made the city their base. Among them, more than 5,000 are from overseas.

　　At the Jingdezhen Ancient Kiln and Folk Customs Museum in Jiangxi province, a craftsman shapes clay on a potter"s wheel. SHI WEIMING/FOR CHINA DAILY