Jingdezhen in Three Days: Throw, Glaze and Fire Your Own

Day one is context, and it matters before you sit down at a wheel. Taoyangli holds the excavated imperial kiln, where tens of thousands of pieces were fired and the ones below standard were smashed and buried on the spot; the museum beside it shows those rejects reassembled. Then the China Ceramics Museum for the full sequence, and Taoxichuan in the evening to see what the town is making now.

Day two is yours. In the morning a potter centers the clay for you and then you have to do the thing that looks easy and is not: keep it centered, open it, pull the wall up evenly. Most first-timers get two or three usable small pieces out of a session and the failures are part of it. After lunch you glaze, with the same recipes used six hundred years ago, and paint cobalt onto bisque - it goes on as a dull gray and you have to trust it. Your pieces are fired afterwards and shipped to your home address, or packed for the flight. Day three is Yaoli and the Gaoling clay ground, and then the road out.

• A full studio day: two taught sessions, throwing in the morning and glazing after lunch
• Working potters, not instructors reading a script
• Cobalt painted onto bisque, going on gray and firing blue
• The imperial kiln excavations and the reassembled court rejects
• The China Ceramics Museum, the whole arc in one visit
• Yaoli and Gaoling, where the china clay itself comes from
• Your pieces fired, packed and shipped to your home address

• Accommodation for 2 nights at a 4-star or equivalent hotel, twin share, with daily breakfast
• Meals as listed in the daily itinerary (breakfast at your hotel, plus lunch and dinner as listed in the day-by-day itinerary below)
• Private air-conditioned vehicle with professional driver throughout
• English-speaking local guide (Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian or Japanese on request)
• All entrance fees for the sites listed, including shuttle buses, eco-buses and cable cars where the site requires them
• Local handling and coordination service throughout the programme
• Bottled water (2 bottles per person per day) and audio headsets where group size requires them
• Travel accident insurance for the duration of the tour

• International air tickets and any domestic flights not listed in the itinerary
• China visa or visa-free entry documentation fees
• Meals not specified in the daily itinerary and all beverages/alcohol
• Tips for guides, drivers and hotel staff (suggested USD 8-12 per person per day)
• Personal expenses: laundry, telephone, minibar, shopping
• Optional activities and any item not listed under Price Includes
• Single-room supplement if a traveller requires a room alone
• Firing and shipping of your pieces beyond the first three (quoted per piece)
• A second studio day, if you want one
• Pottery purchases at Taoxichuan

Published: October 2026 — prices and itinerary reviewed on this date; later updates are shown in the revision note below.

Please read the notes below before you book. Nothing you make can be taken with you the same day - firing takes days and shipping takes weeks. Allow about six weeks for delivery to most addresses.

Q: Do I need any experience at all?
A: None. The sessions assume you have never touched clay. A potter centers the clay for you - centring is the part beginners cannot do - and teaches opening and pulling from there. Expect to make several pieces and keep two or three; the rest go back in the bin, which is normal and is how everybody learns.

Q: When do I get what I made?
A: Not on the day. Pieces have to dry slowly, be bisque-fired, be glazed, and then be fired again at full temperature, which takes a week or more at the studio. After that they are packed and shipped, which for most addresses means about six weeks door to door. If you would rather carry them, we can pack them for the flight - tell us before the last day.

Q: How many pieces are included?
A: The workshop covers two taught sessions and the materials for three finished pieces to be fired and shipped. Anything beyond that is quoted per piece at the studio. Extra throwing time can usually be arranged on the spot if the studio is not full.

Q: Is it suitable for children?
A: From about seven, yes - younger children manage pinch pots and hand-building but not the wheel, which needs the reach and the strength. We adjust the session for families so that adults are at the wheel and children are hand-building alongside. Tell us ages at booking.

Q: What if I am no good at it?
A: Then you will be in the majority, and you will still go home with something the studio fired. The point of doing this in Jingdezhen rather than at home is that the person teaching has been throwing since they were teenagers and the glazes are six-hundred-year-old recipes. The object is secondary.

Q: Can the third day be dropped?
A: Yes. If the studio day is the whole reason you came, we can run this as two days with the workshop on day two and no Yaoli. Conversely, if you want more clay, we can add a second studio day and drop Yaoli - tell us which way you lean.

Q: Do I need a visa for this trip?
A: Most travellers do not. China's unilateral visa-free scheme now covers 50 countries for stays of up to 30 days, and the 240-hour visa-free transit scheme covers travellers from 57 countries entering through 65 designated ports. If you enter on 240-hour transit at Nanchang Changbei, note the stay area that applies to Jiangxi: you may move within Nanchang and Jingdezhen only, not the whole province. Check your nationality against the National Immigration Administration list before you book flights, because the scheme is reviewed and extended periodically.