0:00:04 > 0:00:08This little Chinese bowl once belonged to Queen Elizabeth I.
0:00:08 > 0:00:10It's made of a material which was unknown in Europe
0:00:10 > 0:00:12until the 1500s.
0:00:12 > 0:00:17And when that material arrived, it caused a sensation.
0:00:18 > 0:00:22In the 16th century, porcelain became a cult item
0:00:22 > 0:00:24amongst the very wealthy.
0:00:24 > 0:00:27The intelligentsia and the aristocracy
0:00:27 > 0:00:31kept porcelain in their cabinets of curiosity.
0:00:31 > 0:00:35By the 18th century, the fever had spread to the middle classes.
0:00:35 > 0:00:38People are so mad for it that they're getting into debt.
0:00:38 > 0:00:41They're going bust, wasting their families' wealth.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44The making of porcelain was shrouded in mystery.
0:00:44 > 0:00:47European potters tried in vain to copy it.
0:00:47 > 0:00:51Chinese porcelain's probably the most misunderstood material
0:00:51 > 0:00:53in ceramic history.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56The insatiable demand created a global trade.
0:00:56 > 0:00:58The blue-and-white imagery on the wares
0:00:58 > 0:01:00changed our idea of what was beautiful.
0:01:00 > 0:01:05The British dining table would never be the same again.
0:01:05 > 0:01:08I've had porcelain fever for most of my life,
0:01:08 > 0:01:10and the best way to tell the story
0:01:10 > 0:01:14of how blue-and-white porcelain arrived in the West from China
0:01:14 > 0:01:17is to go there. I'm going to the source,
0:01:17 > 0:01:19to one of the world's first industrial cities.
0:01:19 > 0:01:23'I'll follow the route taken by millions of cups, plates and bowls
0:01:23 > 0:01:28'to try to find out why these wares were so prized then and now.'
0:01:30 > 0:01:33It's a story ripe for the telling, because now
0:01:33 > 0:01:36it's the Chinese who've got the fever.
0:01:36 > 0:01:39The new emperors are buying back their history,
0:01:39 > 0:01:42making Chinese porcelain some of the most expensive art
0:01:42 > 0:01:45ever to come under the hammer.
0:01:45 > 0:01:48?1 million, ladies and gentlemen. ?1,500,000.
0:01:48 > 0:01:50?1,700,000.
0:02:00 > 0:02:03'The Victoria and Albert Museum in London
0:02:03 > 0:02:06'is home to objects that define the British.
0:02:06 > 0:02:10'On the sixth floor, there's a collection about control
0:02:10 > 0:02:13'and our ability to lose it.'
0:02:29 > 0:02:31Between the 17th and 18th centuries,
0:02:31 > 0:02:34the aristocrats and merchants of England
0:02:34 > 0:02:38became increasingly hungry for Chinese porcelain.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41At its height in the mid-18th century,
0:02:41 > 0:02:45it's estimated that over two million pieces of porcelain
0:02:45 > 0:02:48arrived in London, and that was at a time when the whole population
0:02:48 > 0:02:51of these islands was no more than around six million.
0:02:51 > 0:02:55It wasn't just this magical white translucent material
0:02:55 > 0:02:57that interested them, but it was the images
0:02:57 > 0:03:02of a far-distant, mysterious place - Cathay, China.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07Over the years I've been involved with many ceramic valuations.
0:03:07 > 0:03:09My job's been to look at vases, plates, dishes,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13owned by people whose ancestors just had to have them,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17whether they were new at the time or had become antiques.
0:03:17 > 0:03:20And it's those successive waves of China-mania
0:03:20 > 0:03:24which have brought us these fabulous national collections
0:03:24 > 0:03:29that we have. But how did this love affair with Chinese porcelain start?
0:03:29 > 0:03:31How was the trade regulated?
0:03:31 > 0:03:33And just what was it that gave it its value?
0:03:33 > 0:03:36Was it the nature of the porcelain itself,
0:03:36 > 0:03:39or did it have something to do with the complexity
0:03:39 > 0:03:42of bringing it from China to Europe?
0:03:44 > 0:03:49Like any consumer craze, it started with a gap in the market.
0:03:50 > 0:03:54In Europe, in the 16th or 17th century,
0:03:54 > 0:04:00all you would have seen were stonewares and earthernwares,
0:04:00 > 0:04:03quite rough pots.
0:04:06 > 0:04:12And suddenly you see something which is thin as paper,
0:04:12 > 0:04:16white, shiny, translucent,
0:04:16 > 0:04:20and you wonder what on earth this magic substance is.
0:04:20 > 0:04:24In fact, early Europeans didn't know what porcelain was.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28They thought it was some kind of precious stone.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31Porcelain was harder than our toughest stonewares.
0:04:31 > 0:04:34If you hit it with a spoon, it rang like a bell.
0:04:34 > 0:04:37But it didn't chip, flake or scratch.
0:04:37 > 0:04:40It was resistant to heat, and the colour didn't fade.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46It was very hard. It was white, and when you held it up to the light,
0:04:46 > 0:04:48you could see it was translucent.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51Better still, it came from far-off China,
0:04:51 > 0:04:55and only the Chinese knew how to make it.
0:04:55 > 0:04:59All over Europe, scientific gentlemen experimented in vain
0:04:59 > 0:05:02to try to work out what made porcelain so fine.
0:05:02 > 0:05:07Collectors were obsessed. There was a fortune to be made.
0:05:07 > 0:05:10The swank value of porcelain was quite high.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13In fact, in many cases,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17porcelain even replaced precious metals like gold and silver.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21A beautiful, exotic, hard-to-get product
0:05:21 > 0:05:24in limited supply.
0:05:24 > 0:05:27The Portuguese and Dutch had been first to the source,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31so the British aristocracy had to beg, borrow or steal it.
0:05:31 > 0:05:36In 1602, they did just that.
0:05:36 > 0:05:39When a Portuguese boat loaded with porcelain was stolen by the Dutch
0:05:39 > 0:05:42in mid-ocean, it came up for auction.
0:05:42 > 0:05:46The kings of France and England bid against each other.
0:05:47 > 0:05:50These are very exclusive, very high-status luxury items
0:05:50 > 0:05:54for the mega-rich, and the person who kicks it all off in England
0:05:54 > 0:05:57is Queen Mary II in the late 17th century.
0:05:57 > 0:05:59Now, she had spent time in the Low Countries.
0:05:59 > 0:06:02The Dutch were a great trading nation.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05She got hold of loads of porcelain when she'd been living there,
0:06:05 > 0:06:09before she came to England, and you can see in the Royal Collection,
0:06:09 > 0:06:13Charles I - he has some porcelain. He has about 60 items.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16Mary II, 50 years later - she's got 800.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20What had begun in the 16th and 17th centuries
0:06:20 > 0:06:23as the importation of occasional pieces of blue-and-white porcelain
0:06:23 > 0:06:27for princes and their palaces became, in the 18th century,
0:06:27 > 0:06:29the maladie de porcelaine,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32the porcelain sickness,
0:06:32 > 0:06:35when every self-respecting merchant and his household
0:06:35 > 0:06:40filled every nook and cranny, every shelf, with Chinese porcelain.
0:06:40 > 0:06:44Today we tend to eat off plain white plates.
0:06:44 > 0:06:47But generations of British homemakers
0:06:47 > 0:06:50have jollied up their interiors with blue-and-white china.
0:06:50 > 0:06:56The idea that utilitarian objects could also be works of art was revolutionary,
0:06:56 > 0:07:00and would be a profound influence on our aesthetics.
0:07:00 > 0:07:02To many, however, this was just an opportunity
0:07:02 > 0:07:05for conspicuous consumption.
0:07:06 > 0:07:10One of the best descriptions of China-mania comes in Daniel Defoe.
0:07:10 > 0:07:13He's writing in the early 18th century.
0:07:13 > 0:07:16You need to put it on your tables, your writing table,
0:07:16 > 0:07:19your cabinet. It's right up to the top of the ceiling.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22It's being displayed in people's houses,
0:07:22 > 0:07:25and people are so mad for it, they're getting into debt,
0:07:25 > 0:07:29going bust, wasting their families' wealth. The world had gone mad for china.
0:07:31 > 0:07:36So how did this rare product, available only to the few,
0:07:36 > 0:07:39become a craze amongst the emerging middle class?
0:07:39 > 0:07:41It was thanks to the business savvy
0:07:41 > 0:07:45of the most powerful corporation the world has ever seen -
0:07:45 > 0:07:47the East India Company.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53The East India Company can be seen as the mother of the modern corporation.
0:07:53 > 0:07:56It existed in the import-export business,
0:07:56 > 0:07:59exporting bullion to Asia to bring in luxury goods,
0:07:59 > 0:08:03spices, textiles and tea and porcelain from China.
0:08:05 > 0:08:08From Leadenhall Street in the City of London,
0:08:08 > 0:08:12the company controlled the supply and fed the demand for porcelain
0:08:12 > 0:08:16because they had a monopoly on all British trade with the East.
0:08:16 > 0:08:21Today there isn't so much as a brass plaque to mark the place
0:08:21 > 0:08:23where their mansion offices stood.
0:08:23 > 0:08:27Another monument to global trade now occupies the plot -
0:08:27 > 0:08:29Lloyd's of London.
0:08:30 > 0:08:36At its height, it had a very grand, classical headquarters,
0:08:36 > 0:08:38perhaps something like the British Museum
0:08:38 > 0:08:42in terms of its style, with a classical frontage -
0:08:42 > 0:08:45a very big building with its own museum inside,
0:08:45 > 0:08:48and also its auction house, where every quarter
0:08:48 > 0:08:51there'd be the sale of all the goods,
0:08:51 > 0:08:53which was supposed to be so loud and noisy
0:08:53 > 0:08:57that people could hear them outside, shouting and yelling
0:08:57 > 0:09:00as people tried to get their price for the goods.
0:09:01 > 0:09:03The corporation docks were at Blackwall.
0:09:03 > 0:09:09They had chandleries, sail lofts, mast houses, careening beds,
0:09:09 > 0:09:12and an army of stevedores toting bales of cotton,
0:09:12 > 0:09:18silks, spices, tea, and, of course, porcelain by the hundredweight.
0:09:18 > 0:09:21It was from here that the company's ships,
0:09:21 > 0:09:25known as East Indiamen, sailed out to find the trade winds.
0:09:25 > 0:09:28These breezes are a meteorological conveyor belt.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31They took the ships down the coast of Africa,
0:09:31 > 0:09:34around the Horn, out across the Indian Ocean,
0:09:34 > 0:09:39through the Malacca Straits, and into the South China Seas,
0:09:39 > 0:09:42where hordes of pirates lay in wait.
0:09:42 > 0:09:45For the china trade, these were the biggest ships.
0:09:45 > 0:09:48These were the 1,000, 1,200-ton ships,
0:09:48 > 0:09:50both having a commercial purpose
0:09:50 > 0:09:54but also able to fight off marauders and pirates.
0:09:54 > 0:09:56There were huge dangers of dying.
0:09:56 > 0:10:00About a half, two thirds of people never came back.
0:10:02 > 0:10:06For those who made it, the port of entry was Guangzhou, or Canton,
0:10:06 > 0:10:09and it's where my Chinese journey begins.
0:10:09 > 0:10:12Today, China is a holiday destination.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15Then, it was as alien as the moon -
0:10:15 > 0:10:18except we knew what the moon looked like.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21Welcome to China!
0:10:30 > 0:10:32If you'd come here in the 18th century,
0:10:32 > 0:10:34the scene up there in the dusk
0:10:34 > 0:10:38would have been one of a flotilla of European ships,
0:10:38 > 0:10:40all bobbing at anchor,
0:10:40 > 0:10:44their lights twinkling, occasional sounds of sailors singing.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51These were the sailors who'd come halfway across the world -
0:10:51 > 0:10:54in their minds, the celestial empire
0:10:54 > 0:10:56as portrayed in blue-and-white china,
0:10:56 > 0:10:59a land of romance. And what happened?
0:10:59 > 0:11:03They got to here, known to the European sailors
0:11:03 > 0:11:09as the Whampoa Anchorage, and this was where they had to stop.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15'The emperor, in faraway Beijing, was not minded to allow traders
0:11:15 > 0:11:18'to penetrate further than his southern doorstep.'
0:11:18 > 0:11:22They were confined to Canton, and even then,
0:11:22 > 0:11:24only the port area.
0:11:24 > 0:11:28There was a view that many of the Europeans and so on
0:11:28 > 0:11:32were little more than pirates, and were to be discouraged
0:11:32 > 0:11:35because of the disruption they could cause.
0:11:35 > 0:11:38There were two very good reasons for keeping the foreigners here
0:11:38 > 0:11:42in Canton. The first was to prevent the barbarian influence
0:11:42 > 0:11:46on the Chinese empire, and the second, more importantly,
0:11:46 > 0:11:49was to prevent China's own secrets from leaking out into the West.
0:11:49 > 0:11:54And one of these secrets, of course, was the method of making porcelain.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03The Europeans were confined to port,
0:12:03 > 0:12:05and their orders for tea sets and dinner services
0:12:05 > 0:12:08were taken up country by Chinese middle men
0:12:08 > 0:12:11known to Europeans as hoppos.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16Even in modern times, it's been difficult for foreigners
0:12:16 > 0:12:19to get permits to visit certain areas.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23But today I can go to the place where all porcelain came from -
0:12:23 > 0:12:26the fabled town of Jingdezhen.
0:12:31 > 0:12:3718th-century accounts tell of a warren of streets and alleyways,
0:12:37 > 0:12:41and a population that consumed 10,000 loads of rice
0:12:41 > 0:12:44and 1,000 hogs every day.
0:12:46 > 0:12:50It's in the middle of nowhere, and very difficult to get to.
0:12:50 > 0:12:53The reason the town makes all this porcelain
0:12:53 > 0:12:57is because of its fantastic natural resources.
0:12:57 > 0:13:00The materials at Jingdezhen are particularly rich,
0:13:00 > 0:13:05and so that's why it was given an imperial decree
0:13:05 > 0:13:08in the year 1004.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12Remote and inaccessible,
0:13:12 > 0:13:15the town was literally built on the secret ingredients
0:13:15 > 0:13:17that made porcelain.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19What happened in Jingdezhen
0:13:19 > 0:13:21is that, until the early tenth century,
0:13:21 > 0:13:26it was making a stoneware material that had a grey-green ash glaze,
0:13:26 > 0:13:31and this had really been made in South China since the Bronze Age.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34What seems to have happened in the tenth century AD
0:13:34 > 0:13:38is that Chinese potters discovered that there was another local rock,
0:13:38 > 0:13:41and if they processed this in exactly the same way,
0:13:41 > 0:13:44they could produce a white material
0:13:44 > 0:13:47rather than this old grey-green stoneware.
0:13:51 > 0:13:55'The rock they discovered was mined in the hills above the town.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58'Every day for a thousand years,
0:13:58 > 0:14:00'these paths were trodden by labourers
0:14:00 > 0:14:04'ferrying basketfuls down the slopes.'
0:14:04 > 0:14:06And the product they were carrying,
0:14:06 > 0:14:10an essential ingredient in 99 percent of the pieces of porcelain
0:14:10 > 0:14:12in European country houses,
0:14:12 > 0:14:16is named after this mountain, Mount Gaolin.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19And the material we call kaolin.
0:14:33 > 0:14:35Ooh!
0:14:35 > 0:14:38Gosh! From subtropical to sub-zero!
0:14:38 > 0:14:41It's very cold in here.
0:14:43 > 0:14:46And to think that, every day, these men from the village below
0:14:46 > 0:14:51came a thousand feet up the hill, into holes like this,
0:14:51 > 0:14:54quarrying for kaolin...
0:14:55 > 0:14:58..buckled under the weight as they carried it back down again,
0:14:58 > 0:15:02and the fact that these workmen probably didn't live that long.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06I guess they probably were finished by the time they were 40.
0:15:06 > 0:15:10And all for the sake of this material, this magic material.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13I wonder how many people,
0:15:13 > 0:15:19looking at their precious 18th-century porcelain today,
0:15:19 > 0:15:21realise the effort
0:15:21 > 0:15:24and the human sacrifice...
0:15:26 > 0:15:30..that went into getting this material out of here...
0:15:31 > 0:15:33..and back down the mountain.
0:15:35 > 0:15:38Kaolin is simply clay.
0:15:38 > 0:15:40'It occurs all over the world,
0:15:40 > 0:15:43'but the variety here is particularly fine.
0:15:43 > 0:15:47'The hard part is extracting it from the rock.'
0:15:48 > 0:15:52This is kaolinised granite. Granite is an extremely hard, dense rock,
0:15:52 > 0:15:56but when it's attacked by superheated steam
0:15:56 > 0:15:58below the surface of the Earth,
0:15:58 > 0:16:01some of the minerals turn to clay,
0:16:01 > 0:16:04and the white, dusty material is the kaolin,
0:16:04 > 0:16:07and a good kaolinised granite
0:16:07 > 0:16:10will contain about ten or 15 percent of that material.
0:16:10 > 0:16:14So a lot of the hard work is really separating that from the rock
0:16:14 > 0:16:16and using it for porcelain.
0:16:16 > 0:16:20That's what was happening in the mines above Jingdezhen.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24Down below, at the foot of the mountain,
0:16:24 > 0:16:28the second and most magical ingredient was prepared.
0:16:28 > 0:16:32'When the porcelain fever was at its height in Europe,
0:16:32 > 0:16:36'ceramicists were desperate to discover what was added to kaolin
0:16:36 > 0:16:40'to make it so covetably lustrous.'
0:16:40 > 0:16:43Welcome to the world-famous trip-hammer mill at Yaoli.
0:16:44 > 0:16:48Arguably one of oldest industrial machines in the world,
0:16:48 > 0:16:51hammers like this have been operating in China
0:16:51 > 0:16:54for over 2,000 years, and as you can see,
0:16:54 > 0:16:56the way this works, the water drives the wheel,
0:16:56 > 0:17:01the wheel turns an axle, and the pins in the axle
0:17:01 > 0:17:03engage these levered mallets,
0:17:03 > 0:17:08which rise and drop, rise and drop. You've got a sequence of them.
0:17:08 > 0:17:13And into these pits we place china stone.
0:17:14 > 0:17:18It was china stone that made porcelain light and tough
0:17:18 > 0:17:20and in demand the world over.
0:17:20 > 0:17:22But what was it?
0:17:25 > 0:17:29The Chinese guarded their secret jealously.
0:17:29 > 0:17:32'When Europeans eventually managed to make porcelain
0:17:32 > 0:17:36'in the 18th century, they used a material called feldspar.
0:17:36 > 0:17:40'But they still hadn't discovered what china stone really was.'
0:17:41 > 0:17:44Chinese porcelain is probably the most misunderstood material
0:17:44 > 0:17:48in ceramic history. The general misunderstanding
0:17:48 > 0:17:50is that it's a feldspathic material.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53But feldspar was not an ingredient
0:17:53 > 0:17:56in the first Chinese porcelain.
0:17:56 > 0:17:59Its place, really, was taken by another mineral
0:17:59 > 0:18:02called potash mica,
0:18:02 > 0:18:05and this is actually the main flux
0:18:05 > 0:18:08that's in this early porcelain.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11Mica melts at high temperature and gives you translucency,
0:18:11 > 0:18:15but its other great advantage is that it gives you plasticity,
0:18:15 > 0:18:18because the crystal structure is what is known as platy,
0:18:18 > 0:18:22and almost all ceramics need this kind of platy mineral
0:18:22 > 0:18:24to produce plasticity.
0:18:27 > 0:18:30Plasticity meant that you could shape ceramics
0:18:30 > 0:18:32into a myriad of new forms,
0:18:32 > 0:18:36and mica provided a bright surface.
0:18:36 > 0:18:38The use of cobalt blue under the glaze
0:18:38 > 0:18:42eventually led to the recognisable Chinese blue-and-white style.
0:18:44 > 0:18:49From the 16th century onwards, the Portuguese and then the Dutch
0:18:49 > 0:18:52demanded highly formal, compartmentalised designs
0:18:52 > 0:18:56crammed with Chinese scenes.
0:18:56 > 0:19:00From the 17th century, we begin to see enamelled wares reaching Europe.
0:19:00 > 0:19:03Meanwhile, in Beijing,
0:19:03 > 0:19:06the emperors indulged their own tastes for wares so fine,
0:19:06 > 0:19:08so exquisitely potted,
0:19:08 > 0:19:13that they could make the most delicate export wares look lumpen.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17The court had their own colour palette, too.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21Yellow glaze was reserved for imperial eyes only.
0:19:31 > 0:19:34But all this beauty emerged from ugliness.
0:19:34 > 0:19:39Porcelain made Jingdezhen one of the world's first industrial cities.
0:19:39 > 0:19:44It also made it a seething, stinking hellhole.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47It was dirty, it was dark.
0:19:47 > 0:19:51The quality of people's lives there was extremely poor.
0:19:51 > 0:19:57It was very polluted because of all the kilns burning into the sky.
0:19:58 > 0:20:02The town itself was a warren of narrow alleys,
0:20:02 > 0:20:06with kilns and workshops opening off the alleys.
0:20:06 > 0:20:10It would have been like going back to one of the worst cities
0:20:10 > 0:20:13in Victorian Britain in the Industrial Revolution.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16Today it's been cleaned up...a bit.
0:20:16 > 0:20:19But Jingdezhen is still the spiritual home
0:20:19 > 0:20:22of the world's porcelain industry.
0:20:22 > 0:20:25The town is one of many locations
0:20:25 > 0:20:29the imperial rulers wanted to keep from prying eyes.
0:20:29 > 0:20:32But a few outsiders did get in.
0:20:32 > 0:20:36One such was Jesuit priest Father d'Entrecolles,
0:20:36 > 0:20:40who came here in the 18th century to spread the Gospel
0:20:40 > 0:20:43and indulge in some industrial espionage.
0:20:43 > 0:20:46Here he is writing back to H-quarters in Rome
0:20:46 > 0:20:50about the ceramics industry in Jingdezhen.
0:20:50 > 0:20:54"When the cup leaves the wheel, it is taken by a second workman,
0:20:54 > 0:20:56who puts it straight upon its base."
0:20:56 > 0:20:59"Shortly afterwards it is handed over to a third man,
0:20:59 > 0:21:02who puts it on its mould and gives it its shape."
0:21:02 > 0:21:06"A fourth workman pares it down as much as is necessary
0:21:06 > 0:21:08for its transparency."
0:21:08 > 0:21:10"It is surprising to see the rapidity
0:21:10 > 0:21:15with which these vessels pass through so many different hands,
0:21:15 > 0:21:18and I am told that a piece of fired porcelain
0:21:18 > 0:21:21has passed through the hands of 70 workmen."
0:21:21 > 0:21:26"I can easily believe this by what I myself have seen."
0:21:28 > 0:21:32Today, the secret of porcelain is an open one,
0:21:32 > 0:21:35openly displayed at the town's open-air museum.
0:21:38 > 0:21:40He's got a hump of clay, and he can make several bowls
0:21:40 > 0:21:42out of one hump.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46It's an inertia wheel. It's just human-powered.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48There's no electricity here at all.
0:21:48 > 0:21:51And for as long as that wheel is going round,
0:21:51 > 0:21:53he's producing a bowl, and he can probably do it
0:21:53 > 0:21:55in one winding-up of the wheel.
0:22:03 > 0:22:04Fantastic!
0:22:04 > 0:22:07Very good. Hen hao, hen hao. HE LAUGHS
0:22:12 > 0:22:16The production-line process that Father d'Entrecolles described
0:22:16 > 0:22:20was in use in Jingdezhen long before the division of labour
0:22:20 > 0:22:24became the foundation of the Western Industrial Revolution.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30In Europe, we knew that porcelain came from a mysterious place,
0:22:30 > 0:22:34but also that it was forged in a hellish inferno.
0:22:34 > 0:22:39The dangers of the kiln, the risks faced by the brave workers,
0:22:39 > 0:22:42just added to the romance and the price.
0:22:42 > 0:22:46The Jingdezhen museum is constructed around an ancient kiln
0:22:46 > 0:22:48so large, it takes months of production
0:22:48 > 0:22:53to fill its egg-shaped chamber, and forests of timber to fuel it.
0:22:53 > 0:22:57Right. I'm taking you to one of the great, great sites in the world.
0:22:57 > 0:23:00This is the only remaining chicken's-egg kiln.
0:23:00 > 0:23:03It is the biggest functioning kiln in the world.
0:23:03 > 0:23:07It still works. It was created in the Ming Dynasty.
0:23:07 > 0:23:10It's been working for over 400, 500 years maybe.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14And it was in kilns like this that every single piece
0:23:14 > 0:23:17of Chinese export porcelain from Jingdezhen were created.
0:23:17 > 0:23:21Just look at the size of this thing. It's 20 metres long,
0:23:21 > 0:23:25and it has a chimney stack at the other end 20 metres high.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29Those cylindrical boxes, those are called saggars,
0:23:29 > 0:23:32and inside those boxes are the wares that are to be fired.
0:23:33 > 0:23:36It takes days to fill this thing up,
0:23:36 > 0:23:40and when full, this entry is bricked up with mortar and brick,
0:23:40 > 0:23:45and leaving a hole here, the whole kiln is fired for two days,
0:23:45 > 0:23:49feeding through that hole 50 tons of firewood -
0:23:49 > 0:23:53pinewood, seasoned outside the door here.
0:23:53 > 0:23:56The flames are shooting out of the chimney at the other end
0:23:56 > 0:24:00and lighting up the sky. Now, multiply that by 200,
0:24:00 > 0:24:03and you get some idea of people talked about the fabled city
0:24:03 > 0:24:07of Jingdezhen being lit up. It was never dark.
0:24:13 > 0:24:17In recent years, Jingdezhen has become sweeter and fresher.
0:24:17 > 0:24:21'Porcelain is still being made, but not on the same scale.'
0:24:22 > 0:24:27When I first came to the city in the late 1990s,
0:24:27 > 0:24:30I looked across the horizon and I counted, on one occasion,
0:24:30 > 0:24:34at least 50, or 60, maybe, chimney stacks
0:24:34 > 0:24:38all belching greasy black smoke across the city.
0:24:38 > 0:24:40'Looking round the shops in Jingdezhen today,
0:24:40 > 0:24:43'what we see is a change. The market's moved.'
0:24:43 > 0:24:46Huge quantities of domestic wares,
0:24:46 > 0:24:50mass production, things made for the everyday kitchen table,
0:24:50 > 0:24:54made for us in the West, and things we are familiar with
0:24:54 > 0:24:57in the high-street stores, in discount shops,
0:24:57 > 0:25:02and a market which we now see moving over
0:25:02 > 0:25:04to places like Poland and Taiwan.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07It's no longer just made in China.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09They're beginning to feel the competition.
0:25:09 > 0:25:14'But the potters of Jingdezhen are adept at adapting to survive.'
0:25:20 > 0:25:22As porcelain fever gripped the West,
0:25:22 > 0:25:24the Chinese were shown objects and images
0:25:24 > 0:25:28that we liked, and they were happy to have a stab at them.
0:25:29 > 0:25:32Artists switched from traditional motifs
0:25:32 > 0:25:36to depictions of people and places they'd never seen -
0:25:36 > 0:25:40biblical scenes, images from Old Master paintings,
0:25:40 > 0:25:42even erotica.
0:25:42 > 0:25:46Special works were commissioned to celebrate great European events
0:25:46 > 0:25:48like the Jacobite Rebellion,
0:25:48 > 0:25:51which was over by the time the goods reached home.
0:25:51 > 0:25:56This was real enterprise, but it wasn't without problems.
0:25:56 > 0:26:00Since the Middle Ages, European artists had striven
0:26:00 > 0:26:03to give the illusion of depth and distance in painting.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07In the Chinese tradition, symbolism was more important.
0:26:08 > 0:26:13Chinese decorators didn't have a sense of perspective,
0:26:13 > 0:26:16and in one dish, we find that the landscape design
0:26:16 > 0:26:19is repeated in the foreground,
0:26:19 > 0:26:24instead of putting it into a perspective
0:26:24 > 0:26:26that would have been used in Europe.
0:26:26 > 0:26:30They were not familiar with the original source.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34They didn't know how to depict a European face properly.
0:26:34 > 0:26:38Sometimes they have Oriental features.
0:26:38 > 0:26:42We also have inscriptions in Latin
0:26:42 > 0:26:45that very often contain mistakes
0:26:45 > 0:26:47because it was not a language known in China.
0:26:47 > 0:26:50Anyone can make a mistake.
0:26:50 > 0:26:54Dutch potters, disabled by their own understanding of perspective,
0:26:54 > 0:26:59saw images of pagodas that seemed to be the same size as men,
0:26:59 > 0:27:03and guessed that they were some sort of vase.
0:27:03 > 0:27:08They began producing huge, Chinese-inspired tulip holders.
0:27:09 > 0:27:13The potters of Jingdezhen were happy to incorporate artistic traditions,
0:27:13 > 0:27:16however barbarian.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20Can I interest you in a Henri Matisse,
0:27:20 > 0:27:23or maybe in a Modigliani?
0:27:23 > 0:27:26Or would you prefer...
0:27:26 > 0:27:28a Gauguin...
0:27:28 > 0:27:31or a Juan Gris,
0:27:31 > 0:27:33or a Claude Monet?
0:27:33 > 0:27:35Or we've got irises
0:27:35 > 0:27:38and we've got sunflowers.
0:27:38 > 0:27:41This is, yes, a garden of Van Gogh.
0:27:41 > 0:27:43Each and every one of these vases
0:27:43 > 0:27:46has been commissioned by the museum or the art gallery
0:27:46 > 0:27:50in Europe or America that has the original artworks
0:27:50 > 0:27:53and wants them rendered into three dimensions.
0:27:53 > 0:27:55Absolutely amazing.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59I had no idea this was going on,
0:27:59 > 0:28:02and it just shows you that the 18th-century export-ware trade
0:28:02 > 0:28:05is alive and well in the 21st century.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12Adaptability kept the kilns of Jingdezhen alight.
0:28:12 > 0:28:16But my mission is to explore what made porcelain so sought-after
0:28:16 > 0:28:19and so expensive in Europe.
0:28:19 > 0:28:23It was, in part, the ability to make something nobody else could.
0:28:23 > 0:28:26Today, porcelain is made everywhere.
0:28:26 > 0:28:30But here again, Chinese potters still have a unique selling point.
0:28:34 > 0:28:37'At the Xiang factory, they make crisp porcelain
0:28:37 > 0:28:41'on a monumental scale. It's something so specialised
0:28:41 > 0:28:45'that English artist and ceramics professor Felicity Aylieff
0:28:45 > 0:28:49'has relocated here, making Jingdezhen the easternmost outpost
0:28:49 > 0:28:51'of the Royal College of Art.'
0:29:06 > 0:29:09These will come out blue and quite strong. Yeah.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13This will come out dry white porcelain. Yeah.
0:29:13 > 0:29:17This will be brown, and then the colour under it,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20the glaze will bring out the blue.
0:29:20 > 0:29:22So from one colour, cobalt,
0:29:22 > 0:29:25you've managed to make three tones,
0:29:25 > 0:29:28and with the biscuit and the glaze,
0:29:28 > 0:29:31you've got at least seven or eight depths of colour.
0:29:32 > 0:29:34Yeah.
0:29:38 > 0:29:43If you come to Jingdezhen, which is the world's capital -
0:29:43 > 0:29:45it's the Porcelain City of China -
0:29:45 > 0:29:47there is only that one clay.
0:29:47 > 0:29:50'And porcelain has that mystique.'
0:29:50 > 0:29:53For me it's very beautiful, it's very pure,
0:29:53 > 0:29:57and it's like having a large piece of paper, a large canvas,
0:29:57 > 0:30:00for me to express myself with.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04To start with, some of the things I was asking them to help me with
0:30:04 > 0:30:07were quite alien to their practice.
0:30:07 > 0:30:11I thought it was going to be impossible to make anything.
0:30:11 > 0:30:14But then you start seeing that they are real masters
0:30:14 > 0:30:16of their craft,
0:30:16 > 0:30:21and they can do absolutely anything with it at any scale.
0:30:21 > 0:30:24There isn't the expertise in England,
0:30:24 > 0:30:27and the teamwork, the can-do attitude.
0:30:27 > 0:30:32Now there's a new wealth coming in all over China.
0:30:32 > 0:30:37People are willing to spend a lot of money on beautiful objects,
0:30:37 > 0:30:41and fortunately I love making beautiful objects.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50'Every piece of porcelain that left Jingdezhen for Europe
0:30:50 > 0:30:54'followed the same route, and I'm going to follow that route too.'
0:30:54 > 0:30:59The Acropolis, on a Chinese vase. I've not seen that before.
0:30:59 > 0:31:02'The journey itself is, in part,
0:31:02 > 0:31:05'what made Chinese porcelain so special.
0:31:05 > 0:31:10'Before I set off, I've got to select my own piece to export.'
0:31:11 > 0:31:15So you've got underglaze blue, very traditional, very nice,
0:31:15 > 0:31:17very pretty. Now, that is Ming...
0:31:18 > 0:31:20..in style.
0:31:20 > 0:31:24SHE SPEAKS CHINESE Means "replica". OK.
0:31:24 > 0:31:27So that goes back. Let's put that back carefully.
0:31:27 > 0:31:30Not wildly keen on that. I think the shape of the mouth
0:31:30 > 0:31:35is very weak. I'm going to avoid all this very colourful stuff.
0:31:39 > 0:31:42SHE SPEAKS CHINESE Great colour.
0:31:42 > 0:31:48The mark says Daoguang, 1821 to 1850.
0:31:49 > 0:31:52I thought I was going to come in here for a piece of blue-and-white,
0:31:52 > 0:31:56but this is rather good. I didn't realise I was going to go pink.
0:31:56 > 0:31:58How much?
0:31:58 > 0:32:00680.
0:32:00 > 0:32:04That's approximately ?70.
0:32:04 > 0:32:06How about 480?
0:32:06 > 0:32:08SHE REPLIES IN CHINESE
0:32:08 > 0:32:10550.
0:32:10 > 0:32:13I'll say 500, and that really is my last...
0:32:13 > 0:32:17SHE TRANSLATES OK. OK.
0:32:17 > 0:32:19OK. OK. We'll call that a deal.
0:32:22 > 0:32:24'Pot in box. Time to hit the road -
0:32:24 > 0:32:27'which was really a waterway.
0:32:28 > 0:32:32'Canton is over 700 miles south of here.
0:32:32 > 0:32:37'How did millions of pieces of china make the journey?'
0:32:38 > 0:32:41The first leg takes us west by river
0:32:41 > 0:32:45down to a vast inland freshwater sea, Lake Boyang.
0:32:47 > 0:32:50At least, it's a lake for most of the year.
0:32:50 > 0:32:55In the dry season in winter, it dries right back to marshland.
0:32:55 > 0:32:59The porters, who, of course, were a specialised guild,
0:32:59 > 0:33:02and passed their trade down from father to son,
0:33:02 > 0:33:04they knew the weather intimately,
0:33:04 > 0:33:09so they would wait for the right weather conditions
0:33:09 > 0:33:13for maximum length of journey each day.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18So, the porcelain has been made. The order has been delivered
0:33:18 > 0:33:22to the merchant in Jingdezhen. It's safely stowed,
0:33:22 > 0:33:25and the porter has brought it to the shores of Lake Boyang Hu,
0:33:25 > 0:33:29our first major obstacle. We have to cross this lake
0:33:29 > 0:33:32and find another river, and head for Canton.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48Today, motorboat men make the going easy,
0:33:48 > 0:33:51but their ancestors had to use great poles
0:33:51 > 0:33:54to push the porcelain barges across.
0:33:56 > 0:33:59"Lake Boyang, 30 leagues in compass" -
0:33:59 > 0:34:01that's the size of Leicestershire -
0:34:01 > 0:34:04"formed by the confluence of four rivers,
0:34:04 > 0:34:08each as large as the Loire. It is also subject to hurricanes,
0:34:08 > 0:34:11like the seas of China, for in less than a quarter of an hour,
0:34:11 > 0:34:14the wind will veer round all the points of the compass,
0:34:14 > 0:34:17and sometimes sink the largest of boats."
0:34:17 > 0:34:20"In approaching the most dangerous part of the lake,
0:34:20 > 0:34:23the temple appears, built on a steep rock,
0:34:23 > 0:34:26on the site of which the Chinese mariners burn incense
0:34:26 > 0:34:28and sacrifice a cock."
0:34:30 > 0:34:32This was not an easy crossing,
0:34:32 > 0:34:34and I suspect that, on the bottom of this lake,
0:34:34 > 0:34:38there are plenty of barks which have come down over hundreds of years.
0:34:38 > 0:34:43There's a whole ceramic history lying on the seabed of Boyang.
0:34:43 > 0:34:45It's a shallow lake, easily whipped up.
0:34:46 > 0:34:50I think we're lucky, but we've just got to watch out for the pirates.
0:34:56 > 0:35:00'In mid-lake, some boatmen would pivot on their poles
0:35:00 > 0:35:03'and change course.'
0:35:03 > 0:35:05The porcelain wares going up to court
0:35:05 > 0:35:08had to be poled across the Boyang lake
0:35:08 > 0:35:12down the Yangtze River, and then up the Grand Canal
0:35:12 > 0:35:14to Beijing to the capital.
0:35:14 > 0:35:18These porcelain masterpieces were never intended to be seen,
0:35:18 > 0:35:22let alone touched, by anyone outside the Celestial Empire.
0:35:23 > 0:35:27Porcelain that was going overseas had to go south.
0:35:27 > 0:35:29The second leg of the journey to the coast
0:35:29 > 0:35:32meant a 260-mile haul
0:35:32 > 0:35:34through the valley of the River Gan.
0:35:34 > 0:35:38The boats were wide, but with a very shallow draft,
0:35:38 > 0:35:43river punts designed not for speed but for stability.
0:35:43 > 0:35:46They were poled from the rear, or dragged by men with hawsers
0:35:46 > 0:35:49on the banks. The cargo weighed tons.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52TRAIN WHISTLE HOOTS
0:35:52 > 0:35:54'I lay me down by the waters of the Gan
0:35:54 > 0:35:56'inside a sleeper train,
0:35:56 > 0:35:59'mindful of what the boatmen had had to endure.'
0:36:01 > 0:36:05The Gan river is quite shallow, and it does have rapids.
0:36:05 > 0:36:09The barges used for the porcelain barrels,
0:36:09 > 0:36:11they're weighed down by the porcelain,
0:36:11 > 0:36:14so they're fairly stable, but they were difficult and heavy
0:36:14 > 0:36:18to pole along, and for long passages of the river,
0:36:18 > 0:36:22they were dependent on the power of the human body
0:36:22 > 0:36:26to make them move along, and that was very hard work
0:36:26 > 0:36:27at points on the river.
0:36:29 > 0:36:32The work was sought-after
0:36:32 > 0:36:35by men who were able-bodied,
0:36:35 > 0:36:39fairly young, because the life of a bargee,
0:36:39 > 0:36:42or a boatman, was not very extended.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46When your strength gave out, you stopped being able to work
0:36:46 > 0:36:48in that profession.
0:36:51 > 0:36:54The train makes the journey to Ganzhou by night,
0:36:54 > 0:36:56delivering the traveller refreshed
0:36:56 > 0:36:59to this creeky, tree-shaded river town
0:36:59 > 0:37:01which all through the year
0:37:01 > 0:37:04would have been filled with exhausted boatmen.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17At this point, the mighty Gan river, rising over in the east
0:37:17 > 0:37:20and looping its way round, heads north,
0:37:20 > 0:37:23another 200 miles up to Lake Boyang.
0:37:23 > 0:37:26And it's against that north-going current
0:37:26 > 0:37:29that the boats are coming upstream,
0:37:29 > 0:37:32helped by tracker men carrying hawsers on their shoulders
0:37:32 > 0:37:34and wading through the shoals,
0:37:34 > 0:37:37sometimes in very, very rough water.
0:37:37 > 0:37:40And here the river splits, and it's up this second river,
0:37:40 > 0:37:43a faster-flowing river, that the barges have to continue
0:37:43 > 0:37:48for another 80 kilometres, before finding yet another challenge.
0:37:51 > 0:37:55'From here, it would have been an easier voyage downstream
0:37:55 > 0:37:58'to Canton, if there hadn't been a mountain in the way.'
0:37:58 > 0:38:03The boatmen of the Gan carried their loads to the town of Dayu,
0:38:03 > 0:38:08the place where the most hazardous stage of the journey began.
0:38:11 > 0:38:15'What was once a pivotal junction is now literally a backwater.
0:38:15 > 0:38:19'The river is sluggish, the current switched off higher upstream
0:38:19 > 0:38:22'by dams generating electricity.
0:38:22 > 0:38:25'Quays that once thronged with stevedores and boatmen
0:38:25 > 0:38:29'are now a park. But even that's been abandoned by the gardeners.'
0:38:31 > 0:38:33HENS CLUCK
0:38:33 > 0:38:38Here it is - a tablet commemorating the trade.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41This marks the point of a really important trade route.
0:38:41 > 0:38:44And when we're talking important trade route, we're talking not M1.
0:38:44 > 0:38:48We're talking Heathrow Airport. In fact you can just see here
0:38:48 > 0:38:51the characters for Ming and Qing.
0:38:55 > 0:38:58'The trade was private, not state run,
0:38:58 > 0:39:01'and there are no figures for the value of the business
0:39:01 > 0:39:04'that passed through Dayu, but it lasted for centuries,
0:39:04 > 0:39:08'and must, in today's terms, have been worth billions.'
0:39:11 > 0:39:14The porcelain's been offloaded from the barges.
0:39:14 > 0:39:18It's come up the wharf, and we've been greeted by an army of men
0:39:18 > 0:39:22with their sticks who are going to carry this huge burden,
0:39:22 > 0:39:25several barge-loads of porcelain,
0:39:25 > 0:39:28like ants over the mountain before us.
0:39:28 > 0:39:30And men like these, who have been responsible
0:39:30 > 0:39:34for building all of China for over 2,000 years -
0:39:34 > 0:39:38the Great Wall, the Grand Canal, and even apartment blocks today...
0:39:38 > 0:39:42We see men running through the streets with these...
0:39:44 > 0:39:46..an elegant sliver of bamboo,
0:39:46 > 0:39:49beautifully sprung, like light steel.
0:39:49 > 0:39:53And if you get the rhythm right, you can walk with a jaunty step,
0:39:53 > 0:39:57which is what I'm going to attempt to do, over the mountain,
0:39:57 > 0:39:59the mountain being in that direction.
0:39:59 > 0:40:01This for balance,
0:40:01 > 0:40:05and my cameraman has very kindly given me some camera kit
0:40:05 > 0:40:08to balance my precious vase,
0:40:08 > 0:40:10and let's... HE GRUNTS
0:40:10 > 0:40:12Ooh!
0:40:12 > 0:40:14..see whether we can go.
0:40:17 > 0:40:22The porters were headed for a gap in the Nan mountain range.
0:40:22 > 0:40:25The Meiling Pass was cut out of the rock
0:40:25 > 0:40:28during the Sung Dynasty, a remarkable feat of engineering
0:40:28 > 0:40:31by thousands of nameless labourers.
0:40:31 > 0:40:36It made the passage just a bit easier - for the porcelain.
0:40:40 > 0:40:44You needed brute strength and endurance.
0:40:44 > 0:40:47Some men were employed on a full-time basis,
0:40:47 > 0:40:51but many men were employed from a large labour force,
0:40:51 > 0:40:53and they were picked by the gang-masters
0:40:53 > 0:40:57to carry the porcelain up and over.
0:40:57 > 0:40:59Ooh!
0:40:59 > 0:41:01These guys were fit.
0:41:01 > 0:41:06They ate pretty much a very carbohydrate-rich diet,
0:41:06 > 0:41:08with a minimum of protein.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14Nearly there...or not.
0:41:14 > 0:41:16Probably not.
0:41:18 > 0:41:20They didn't eat a lot of sugar,
0:41:20 > 0:41:23so the Chinese peasant would eat a lot of things like fat,
0:41:23 > 0:41:26which we find very distasteful,
0:41:26 > 0:41:29but of course it gives you a lot of energy.
0:41:29 > 0:41:31The summit in view!
0:41:33 > 0:41:37And the great problem always is in eating enough calories
0:41:37 > 0:41:40each day to keep you going.
0:41:40 > 0:41:43'Paid by the day, most porters were carrying
0:41:43 > 0:41:45'more than twice their own bodyweight.
0:41:45 > 0:41:49'Years of hill-climbing with loads balanced on one shoulder
0:41:49 > 0:41:52'led to appalling physiological trauma.'
0:41:52 > 0:41:55I think her plums were lighter than these!
0:42:01 > 0:42:03We're here...
0:42:05 > 0:42:08..at the top of the Meiling Pass.
0:42:08 > 0:42:11I don't believe it. What a climb!
0:42:11 > 0:42:16And to think that 99.9 percent of the Chinese porcelain
0:42:16 > 0:42:19that we see in the great stately homes of England and of Europe
0:42:19 > 0:42:22made this journey, up these very steps,
0:42:22 > 0:42:25through this very gateway and on.
0:42:26 > 0:42:28A tremendous human effort.
0:42:28 > 0:42:32And these men were fit. They were even more wiry than me.
0:42:32 > 0:42:35Some of the porters were carrying half a ton
0:42:35 > 0:42:38in a case slung between poles,
0:42:38 > 0:42:42four men carrying one case up there.
0:42:42 > 0:42:46I'm full of admiration,
0:42:46 > 0:42:50and even now, I know I shall look differently at Chinese porcelain
0:42:50 > 0:42:52in stately homes.
0:42:52 > 0:42:56There's the inscription of the emperor Kangxi,
0:42:56 > 0:42:5817th-century inscription.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01And the inscription above the gateway itself,
0:43:01 > 0:43:04saying "the Pass of Heroes".
0:43:06 > 0:43:10So, here goes one aspirant hero!
0:43:10 > 0:43:11HE GRUNTS
0:43:16 > 0:43:20Bye-bye, Jiangxi! Hello, Guangdong.
0:43:22 > 0:43:26It was a dangerous route. The cobbles were worn smooth
0:43:26 > 0:43:31by millions of footsteps. You would almost rather break your own bones
0:43:31 > 0:43:35than break the porcelain. Penalties for dropping or breaking pieces
0:43:35 > 0:43:38could be quite high.
0:43:47 > 0:43:51'On the other side of the mountain, the stick-stick men could relax,
0:43:51 > 0:43:53'their work done.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57'The porcelain now moved back onto the waters of the Pearl River.'
0:43:59 > 0:44:02This scene of industry has changed very little
0:44:02 > 0:44:04in the intervening centuries.
0:44:04 > 0:44:08It would have been familiar to traders from the Port of London,
0:44:08 > 0:44:12except they were prohibited from coming up-country
0:44:12 > 0:44:14to see it for themselves.
0:44:16 > 0:44:19With Canton the final port of call in China,
0:44:19 > 0:44:22a mere 240 miles downstream,
0:44:22 > 0:44:25the boatmen might have been able to take things easier.
0:44:27 > 0:44:29These waters are slower moving.
0:44:29 > 0:44:32'But there are still dangerous bends,
0:44:32 > 0:44:35'and dire penalties for anyone losing a load.'
0:44:42 > 0:44:46Let's see whether it's still in one piece.
0:44:47 > 0:44:51I have to admit, I did stumble on a couple of occasions on that pass.
0:44:51 > 0:44:53Moment of truth...
0:44:55 > 0:44:57Phew! Intact.
0:44:57 > 0:45:00Great. I'm really pleased. And why pink?
0:45:00 > 0:45:03Well, the fact is, I've always liked monochromes,
0:45:03 > 0:45:08quite unlike the 18th-century taste, which was for blue-and-white.
0:45:08 > 0:45:11And it's not just the colour.
0:45:11 > 0:45:14They were interested in seeing a new world,
0:45:14 > 0:45:17a faraway world, a world that is exotic -
0:45:17 > 0:45:21the Cathay, the mysterious Orient.
0:45:21 > 0:45:23And for the first 50 years of the 18th century,
0:45:23 > 0:45:26these images, portrayed largely on porcelain
0:45:26 > 0:45:29but on fans, silks, and all the other merchandise
0:45:29 > 0:45:31that were coming through Canton -
0:45:31 > 0:45:35these were the first images that gave Europe en masse
0:45:35 > 0:45:38some intimation of what life was like in the Orient.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41And they even inspired philosophers such as Voltaire
0:45:41 > 0:45:46to imagine that China was this spectacularly well ruled,
0:45:46 > 0:45:52well ordered empire, in which everything was just so.
0:46:02 > 0:46:06The imagery that one day would spawn the Willow pattern in the West
0:46:06 > 0:46:09must have seemed fanciful to our ancestors,
0:46:09 > 0:46:11as they sipped their Oolong.
0:46:11 > 0:46:14And, of course, it was.
0:46:14 > 0:46:17But in the absence of anything else, scenes of rustic activity
0:46:17 > 0:46:22amid riverside pagodas were, for those with imagination,
0:46:22 > 0:46:25an invitation to dream.
0:46:26 > 0:46:30What's so magic about the China trade, really,
0:46:30 > 0:46:33is it presents a picture of Asia that nothing else did.
0:46:33 > 0:46:38There were no photographs. There were few realistic representations
0:46:38 > 0:46:41of what China was really like.
0:46:41 > 0:46:44Beneath the glaze there were subtle messages,
0:46:44 > 0:46:47Chinese whispers,
0:46:47 > 0:46:49if only they'd known how to decode them.
0:46:51 > 0:46:55It was completely unfamiliar to a European purchaser.
0:46:55 > 0:47:00The depiction of a Chinese landscape is very common in ceramics
0:47:00 > 0:47:06in China, and it is really associated with a Taoist concept of life
0:47:06 > 0:47:08in an idyllic environment.
0:47:12 > 0:47:16Deer with pine trees is associated in China
0:47:16 > 0:47:21with longevity, immortality and old age.
0:47:21 > 0:47:25Another very popular motif, the rooster amongst peonies,
0:47:25 > 0:47:31is associated with success in scholarly achievements.
0:47:31 > 0:47:35It was very much an exotic idea
0:47:35 > 0:47:40that was informing the knowledge of the East at the time.
0:47:44 > 0:47:46These images had meaning
0:47:46 > 0:47:49in a culture where ceramics were as well regarded
0:47:49 > 0:47:52as paintings or sculpture were in the West.
0:47:52 > 0:47:54It was high-concept art,
0:47:54 > 0:47:57from which you ate and drank.
0:48:01 > 0:48:03In Canton,
0:48:03 > 0:48:07the offices of the East India Company had been waiting months
0:48:07 > 0:48:10for the porcelain to arrive from somewhere out there.
0:48:14 > 0:48:18The porcelain is on its final leg down the great Pearl River,
0:48:18 > 0:48:22and one can only imagine what were the thoughts of the merchants,
0:48:22 > 0:48:25the supercargoes and captains and the ordinary ratings.
0:48:25 > 0:48:28They'd been bottled up here in Canton for the best part of a year.
0:48:31 > 0:48:34The barbarians from across the sea
0:48:34 > 0:48:36weren't allowed out of the port area,
0:48:36 > 0:48:39but mariners of all nations had been permitted
0:48:39 > 0:48:43to establish offices, building a waterfront village of sheds
0:48:43 > 0:48:46called hongs - warehouses to live in.
0:48:46 > 0:48:51This is where the imperial agents, middle men on a percentage,
0:48:51 > 0:48:53came to do business with them.
0:48:57 > 0:48:59It was very highly regulated.
0:48:59 > 0:49:02Not only the company could only trade through one port,
0:49:02 > 0:49:05but there were a series of eight regulations.
0:49:05 > 0:49:07They weren't supposed to learn the language,
0:49:07 > 0:49:11so all the terms of trade were weighted against the foreigners.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13They had to trade through intermediaries.
0:49:13 > 0:49:18Everything was weighed so that the terms of trade for the company would be as weak as possible.
0:49:18 > 0:49:23They didn't see Europeans in any way as equal trading partners,
0:49:23 > 0:49:26and really Europeans, and in particular the English,
0:49:26 > 0:49:27never understood that.
0:49:27 > 0:49:33But the Chinese just saw them as humble petitioners to the empire.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38'Today, flower beds in a very pedestrian precinct
0:49:38 > 0:49:41'mark the spot where the hongs once stood -
0:49:41 > 0:49:44'blooms that are a monument to these early global traders.
0:49:49 > 0:49:52'Life in the sheds was basic.'
0:49:52 > 0:49:55But these were men used to a wooden world,
0:49:55 > 0:49:57and at least this one wouldn't sink.
0:49:57 > 0:50:01They'd spend their time amassing the cargo they'd sail home with,
0:50:01 > 0:50:04smelling spices and lacquer,
0:50:04 > 0:50:07chasing rats and listening to the rain.
0:50:09 > 0:50:12What did we have that the Chinese didn't have?
0:50:12 > 0:50:16What could we trade with? Well, there was broadcloth,
0:50:16 > 0:50:18there was copper, there was tin -
0:50:18 > 0:50:21raw materials, not manufactured goods.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24And it was the manufactured goods of southern China
0:50:24 > 0:50:26that interested the Englishmen.
0:50:26 > 0:50:31We wanted those great rich brocades, the silks, the wallpapers,
0:50:31 > 0:50:35furniture, silver - but of course, maybe above all, porcelain.
0:50:35 > 0:50:39So that early trade was very unequal -
0:50:39 > 0:50:41we, the Western barbarians,
0:50:41 > 0:50:44and the Chinese, the civilised empire.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47A love affair it certainly was,
0:50:47 > 0:50:49but with time it would become even more than that,
0:50:49 > 0:50:53because this was the beginning of two great empires
0:50:53 > 0:50:56coming together, the collision of world powers,
0:50:56 > 0:50:59over the chink of china.
0:51:06 > 0:51:10Customers in Britain didn't mind waiting for their boat to come in.
0:51:10 > 0:51:13They knew that porcelain came from a long way away,
0:51:13 > 0:51:16and owning it told people you valued things of quality
0:51:16 > 0:51:19that were not easily won.
0:51:19 > 0:51:22Of course, you had to get the neighbours into your parlour
0:51:22 > 0:51:24for them to discover this.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28Porcelain was very suitable for drinking hot liquids,
0:51:28 > 0:51:33and you could pour almost-boiling, or even boiling liquids
0:51:33 > 0:51:37into your porcelain teapot without it cracking,
0:51:37 > 0:51:40and you could then pour those red-hot liquids
0:51:40 > 0:51:42into little porcelain cups.
0:51:42 > 0:51:44These are rare and valuable items
0:51:44 > 0:51:47that have travelled halfway around the world.
0:51:47 > 0:51:51They are expensive, and so they're very highly desirable
0:51:51 > 0:51:53as a means of expressing your wealth.
0:51:53 > 0:51:56But they do something else as well. They show refinement
0:51:56 > 0:51:59and discernment, because to appreciate something like this,
0:51:59 > 0:52:03you've got to understand this. It comes from a different world,
0:52:03 > 0:52:05outside western Europe.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08This shows you're aware there are other countries,
0:52:08 > 0:52:12there are other value systems, which are different from your own.
0:52:13 > 0:52:17The 18th century saw the emergence of a merchant class,
0:52:17 > 0:52:20new money wanting old-money luxuries.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23But there was a problem.
0:52:23 > 0:52:27By 1720, Chinese porcelain had become widely available.
0:52:27 > 0:52:32Bespoke porcelain dinner services bearing the family coat of arms
0:52:32 > 0:52:39became all the rage - so the new luxury became exclusivity.
0:52:39 > 0:52:43The East India Company took orders for around 5,000 sets,
0:52:43 > 0:52:44and every one tells a tale.
0:52:44 > 0:52:48One of the best stories concerns the service
0:52:48 > 0:52:51still preserved at Shugborough Hall in Staffordshire,
0:52:51 > 0:52:54seat of the Anson family, earls of Lichfield.
0:52:54 > 0:52:58'This one wasn't commissioned. It was earned.'
0:53:01 > 0:53:05In 1743, Commodore Anson of His Majesty's Navy
0:53:05 > 0:53:08was approaching the coast of China. On board his vessel,
0:53:08 > 0:53:12the Centurion, was a load of red-fruit trees.
0:53:12 > 0:53:17He arrived in Canton with his crew, only to find that there was a fire.
0:53:17 > 0:53:20He dispatched his crew. They helped to put out the fire,
0:53:20 > 0:53:23and the eternally grateful merchants of Canton
0:53:23 > 0:53:26decided to give him a very special gift.
0:53:38 > 0:53:40And there it is.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43This coat of arms, rather an extraordinary one -
0:53:43 > 0:53:46not quite the correct Anson coat of arms,
0:53:46 > 0:53:49because he's anticipating becoming ennobled.
0:53:49 > 0:53:53That happens only five years later, after taking the French fleet
0:53:53 > 0:53:56at Finistere. So somewhat eccentric,
0:53:56 > 0:53:58and the crest at the top...
0:53:58 > 0:54:03But best of all, the views on the side.
0:54:04 > 0:54:07This is Plymouth Sound,
0:54:07 > 0:54:11Edison Lighthouse, various European ships
0:54:11 > 0:54:13bobbing along on the horizon.
0:54:13 > 0:54:17And then, little bit of a surprise, a junk.
0:54:17 > 0:54:19And opposite Plymouth Sound,
0:54:19 > 0:54:23a place that all the European sailors sailing to China
0:54:23 > 0:54:26would know very well, the Whampoa Anchorage.
0:54:26 > 0:54:29So this plate is exceptional.
0:54:29 > 0:54:33Multiply this dish up with all of the pieces you see here,
0:54:33 > 0:54:35over 200 pieces made in Jingdezhen,
0:54:35 > 0:54:39and then to be carried right the way through China,
0:54:39 > 0:54:42across the Meiling Pass, down into Canton,
0:54:42 > 0:54:46and then multiply all of that by the thousands of services
0:54:46 > 0:54:49commissioned for England alone,
0:54:49 > 0:54:53and you begin to get some idea of the physical labour involved
0:54:53 > 0:54:56in getting this to the other side of the world.
0:54:59 > 0:55:02'Dragged from the earth, born in fire,
0:55:02 > 0:55:05'and carried across the waters of the deep,
0:55:05 > 0:55:09'armorial porcelain ended up as an instrument of one-upmanship,
0:55:09 > 0:55:13'trumpeting your lineage and infuriating rivals.'
0:55:13 > 0:55:16The greed and ambition have evaporated,
0:55:16 > 0:55:21but the porcelain remains unchanged by the passing of the years.
0:55:22 > 0:55:25On one hand it's now just antique china -
0:55:25 > 0:55:30on the other, a unique historical artefact.
0:55:30 > 0:55:33'Porcelain makes time travel possible.'
0:55:37 > 0:55:40So, you're walking through a country house on a Sunday afternoon,
0:55:40 > 0:55:43and you see a lovely blue-and-white bowl on the table,
0:55:43 > 0:55:46and you think, "That's pretty." When somebody tells you
0:55:46 > 0:55:49that this belonged to Queen Elizabeth I,
0:55:49 > 0:55:51and maybe to Sir Francis Drake before then,
0:55:51 > 0:55:55I guarantee that you see this piece differently.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58Its value changes in your mind,
0:55:58 > 0:56:02because somebody has given you a story,
0:56:02 > 0:56:04an authentic story, with provenance.
0:56:04 > 0:56:08Today, the most expensive porcelain you can buy at auction
0:56:08 > 0:56:11happens to be Chinese - not Chinese for the West,
0:56:11 > 0:56:15but the Chinese for themselves, for the emperor.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17If you're a Chinese billionaire,
0:56:17 > 0:56:21you want to own something that has that story.
0:56:21 > 0:56:25You want to be in touch with the Qianlong emperor, perhaps.
0:56:25 > 0:56:29And if somebody can convince you that the vase that you're looking at
0:56:29 > 0:56:32really did belong to the Qianlong emperor,
0:56:32 > 0:56:36then we have authenticity, and once we have that,
0:56:36 > 0:56:39we're talking not of hundreds of pounds,
0:56:39 > 0:56:41not of tens of thousands of pounds,
0:56:41 > 0:56:44but of millions.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48Of course, if you don't know its story, its provenance,
0:56:48 > 0:56:51even an important piece is just an old pot
0:56:51 > 0:56:54covered in mysterious imagery.
0:56:54 > 0:56:57All those little pictures on the yellow bit mean things,
0:56:57 > 0:57:00like those two fish at the top.
0:57:00 > 0:57:05They're paper fish, and they turn to dragons when you pass exams.
0:57:05 > 0:57:08Eh? Apparently.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11In November 2010,
0:57:11 > 0:57:15this pot turned up among some mid-20th-century items
0:57:15 > 0:57:18in a house-clearance sale in Middlesex.
0:57:18 > 0:57:21No-one in the family could remember where it had come from,
0:57:21 > 0:57:24and they'd used it for storing umbrellas.
0:57:24 > 0:57:28It had been valued by a local antiques dealer at ?800.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31But the auction house had a feeling about it.
0:57:34 > 0:57:38And so did the bidders, who'd come from near and very far.
0:57:38 > 0:57:41Lot 800 now, the vase.
0:57:45 > 0:57:48?1 million, ladies and gentlemen. Putting it in, 200,000.
0:57:48 > 0:57:51Four million. Five million. ?10 million.
0:57:51 > 0:57:5315 million is bid.
0:57:53 > 0:57:56Prices may have changed in line with inflation...
0:57:56 > 0:57:5920 million now. 30 million is bid.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02..but the lure of porcelain is eternal.
0:58:02 > 0:58:0540 million, ladies and gentlemen. 41 million.
0:58:05 > 0:58:08The fever is as virulent as it ever was.
0:58:08 > 0:58:1142,500,000.
0:58:11 > 0:58:14The Bainbridge vase is the most expensive Chinese artwork
0:58:14 > 0:58:18ever to come to auction - for the moment, at least.
0:58:18 > 0:58:22At ?43 million...
0:58:23 > 0:58:25..sold! CHEERING / APPLAUSE
0:58:38 > 0:58:42Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:58:42 > 0:58:46E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk
0:58:46 > 0:58:46.
0:59:06 > 0:59:08HE PANTS
0:59:09 > 0:59:10CAR HORN BLARES