Helen Deng

MENTION Chinese porcelain and what usually comes to mind are the blue-and-white vases, plates and bowls from Jingdezhen city in Jiangxi Province. But porcelain made farther to the north in Cizhou County, Hebei Province, is equally significant for its long history and delicate craftsmanship, even if it’s not as well-known.

Cizhou is the only place in China that began producing porcelain during the Northern Dynasty (386-581) and continues to make it today, according to Cizhou porcelain researcher Ma Xiaoqing.

Now, the Shenzhen Museum is giving locals a rare and complete view of the porcelain in the exhibition The Art of Black and White: Cizhou Porcelain Show.

During its most prosperous period, porcelain produced in Cizhou kilns was so widely collected both at home and abroad that it has been found in sunken ships in East and Southeast Asian seas.

While the porcelain of Jingdezhen still enjoys great popularity, the Cizhou kiln porcelain is not so well recognized because of lack of promotion.