Blanc de Chine at the Shanghai World Skills Museum

On July 15, CHINA White opened at the Shanghai World Skills Museum for World Youth Skills Day. The exhibition brings Blanc de Chine into a setting where craft and modern skills sit side by side.

Built around the idea of CHINA, the show is divided into five sections: Classic Craft, Horse White Gathering, Icon of the Artisan, Nature and Elegance, and New Voices of the Future. It presents Blanc de Chine as a living tradition rather than a museum piece.

Why Blanc de Chine matters

Blanc de Chine has been refined over centuries. From the clay to the final firing, every step depends on patience and control. Guo Yanqiu, director of the Dehua County Porcelain Museum, described porcelain as the bridge that helps visitors understand Chinese craft more deeply.

Curator Qi Jiarui said the exhibition was designed to show technique as much as form. Dehua clay is low in iron and highly workable, which helps give Blanc de Chine its soft white tone. In the Ming dynasty, master He Chaozong developed an eight-step sculptural method that became a benchmark for porcelain sculpture.

Today, that tradition continues in new ways. Some artists draw on Tang-style painted pottery, while others experiment with modern tools and even 3D printing. The result is still recognizably Dehua: quiet, precise, and full of feeling.

More than 100 works are on view, including special commissions such as World Skills Elegance, Craftsmanship on the Gan River, and Together in Bloom. Other pieces, such as Jade Bell Plum Vase, Void Valley Long Vase, and Heavenly Flight, add variety and scale to the exhibition.

The exhibition opened to the public free of charge on July 16.