More than an estimated 100,000 porcelain makers are engaged in their craft and lead harmonious daily lives alongside the local community at the Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites in east China’s Jiangxi Province, which were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List on Saturday.

Porcelain production has become an integral part of daily life in Jiangxi’s Jingdezhen City. A key part of its porcelain-making heritage sites is the Town Area Porcelain Production Center, where workshops, guilds, and residences are closely interwoven.

At this center, local residents have developed a recycling system to process old bricks from the kiln's inner walls, which are covered with crystals formed during firing.

"The crystals accumulated too thickly over time, affecting the strength of the bricks. We had to remove them and rebuild the inner walls of the kiln. What about these bricks? It was widely recycled and reused by the people of Jingdezhen for building houses and paving roads," said Weng Yanjun, curator of the Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Institute.

The porcelain industry remains the pillar industry in Jingdezhen today, with the old kilns carrying the local people's deep affection for their hometown.

As one of the oldest existing wood-fired kilns in Jingdezhen, Xujia Kiln, built in the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), still opens for firing every year. The head burning master operating the kiln is called "Bazhuang Shifu" in Chinese.

"In fact, it's no exaggeration to say that there are 100,000 porcelain makers today, and they come from all directions. Among them are the artisans of each link, including the burning masters that we call 'Bazhuang Shifu', such as those surnamed Hu and Yuan. They are the artisans who have passed down this craft from their ancestors. There are also some young people learning the craft. They learn it not merely for performance but also to meet society's demands. People still have a high demand for handcrafted and wood-fired porcelain," said Weng.

Covering an area of 1,979 hectares, with a 5,545.7-hectare buffer zone, the Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites also include the Hutian Ancient Kiln Site, the Gaoling Porcelain Clay Mining Site, the Changling Porcelain Stone Mining Site, and the Jiaotan Firewood Production Area.

According to the World Heritage Committee, the property exhibits the innovative development of China's handicraft porcelain-making technology, porcelain art, and porcelain industry, and attests to the profound impact of China's handicraft porcelain industry on the development of the world's ceramic industry and on exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.