Chen Minghua: Turning white porcelain into artistic works

White porcelain is a representative product of Dehua, Southeast China's Fujian province, and it was a key commodity of the Maritime Silk Road during the Song and Yuan dynasties (960—1368). Dehua is renowned as the hometown of Chinese white porcelain.

Chen Minghua, 53, was born in a ceramic family in Dehua in 1966. After studying the skills of making porcelain with her father from the age of 15, she studied with masters of Chinese arts and crafts Ke Hongrong and Chen Guiyu, and veteran porcelain artist Li Guozhang.

Chen said her father, also a ceramic craftsman, was very strict with her. When Chen made a not so good work, her father would smash it immediately without giving any suggestion in order to make Chen learn from experience by herself. Chen said that her father's strictness ignited her passion for doing better in porcelain making.