The Organisation of Ceramic Production in China from the Tang to the Ming Dynasties

Abstract

The aim of this thesis is to use archaeological evidence to investigate the changing organisation of ceramic production in China from the Tang to the Ming dynasties (7th to 17th centuries). To do this the research applies statistical methods and GIS-based analysis to a data set from published sources of 2,379 production sites, located in major ceramic-producing areas, including Henan, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Jiangxi provinces, as well as 259 workshops identified at 97 sites across China. The thesis thus proposes a detailed outline of the organisation of production from the regional to the site level.

At the regional level, the study explores the distribution of Ceramic Manufacturing Sites, the formation of Regional Production Centres, and the selection of product types, and how environmental and socio-economic factors influenced regional production patterns. The findings reveal that southern China generally exhibited a more dynamic pattern of regional development than the north, with socio-economic factors such as transport accessibility, labour availability, and market demand playing an increasingly significant role in shaping production landscapes. At the site level, the spatial arrangement of facilities within workshops reveals two distinct Workshop Types, each reflecting different levels of labour specialisation. The distribution of kilns and workshops indicates three Organisation Models, representing a spectrum from small-scale cooperation to highly specialised, site-wide collaboration. A general trajectory towards larger-scale and more specialised production is observed.

This research presents the first large-scale quantitative synthesis of this topic, supported by GIS visualisation. It sheds light on long-term developmental patterns in regional production, labour organisation, and specialisation within the Chinese ceramic industry, offering new insights into the evolving structure of ceramic production.