Experts and scholars from many countries discuss world heritage protection in Jingdezhen

China News Service, Jingdezhen, Jiangxi, October 19 (Reporters Liu Zhankun and Li Yunhan) The 2026 Jingdezhen Forum with the theme of "Dialogue between World Heritage and Civilizations" opened in Jingdezhen, Jiangxi on the 19th. The forum invited 89 foreign guests from 24 countries to discuss world heritage protection and exchanges and mutual learning among civilizations.

Jingdezhen is the world-renowned "Millennium Porcelain City". In July this year, the "Jingdezhen Handmade Porcelain Industry Remains" was successfully included in the World Heritage List.

“The value of World Heritage is not only that it shows us the past, but also that it can lead us to jointly build the future.” H.E. Norman Bin Muhamad, Malaysian Ambassador to China, said at the forum that heritage carries the memory of how humans live, create, and interact with each other, and should become an important link to deepen dialogue among civilizations today.

Norman cited the historical cities of Malacca and George Town in Malaysia as examples. The two cities have developed into trading ports relying on the Strait of Malacca for hundreds of years, where multiple civilizations have blended. They and Jingdezhen represent trading ports and handicraft production centers respectively, indicating that transnational exchanges convey not only goods, but also knowledge, artistic inspiration, and new perspectives on the world.

Wang Guangyao, a secondary research librarian at the Palace Museum and executive director of the Chinese Archaeological Society, said that the development of Chinese porcelain and its introduction to the world have never been a one-way flow process. During its development, Chinese ceramics absorbed raw materials, patterns, and technologies from other regions. Porcelain-making techniques and products spread to many parts of the world along with trade and personnel exchanges, promoting the formation of a cross-regional ceramic cultural exchange network.

Tim Winter, professor and head of the Asian Cross-Cultural Exchange Research Cluster at the Institute of Asia Studies, National University of Singapore, and chairman of the Association for Speculative Heritage Research, believes that to understand Jingdezhen, we cannot just focus on the architecture and ruins, but also see the centuries-old relationship between the ceramic industry, urban development and creativity.

Winter said that world heritage protection must not only maintain traditional production ecology, but also create conditions for innovation. Digital technology, international design cooperation and exchange of experiences between cities can help heritage sites expand international connections and provide reference for other traditional handicraft cities in dealing with the relationship between protection and development.

During this forum, the "Jingdezhen Initiative" was officially released. The initiative focuses on the protection and inheritance of world heritage and the exchange and mutual learning of civilizations, aiming to build a consensus on the protection of global ceramic heritage and provide action guidance for the protection and inheritance of global ceramic cultural heritage.