Social media fires up visitors to 'state kiln'
Tourists enamored with city's sweet deals and discount ceramic products
Liu Liang, a senior official at the Liling culture, tourism, radio, television and sports bureau, said that after "picking up porcelain in Liling" became popular online, the local government took the opportunity to promote the city in mainstream media.
As China's top exporter of porcelain, the production value of the city's industry hit 80 billion yuan last year, Liu said.
According to local government figures, the city has more than 1,500 porcelain-related enterprises and produces more than 4,000 types of porcelain for daily use, manufacturing and art. Liling's porcelain has been sold in more than 150 countries.
A total of 2.3 million people visited Liling from August to December last year, which itself has a population of 1.06 million, specifically to purchase bargain porcelain.
The side industry of selling castoff porcelain has grown so big that more than 50 enterprises run it as either their main or sideline business.
Local porcelain enterprises and travel agencies have also got in on the action by actively promoting "factory seconds" discounts and deals to attract the growing customers
The city plans to improve the branding of "picking up porcelain", known as jianci in Chinese, by helping enterprises to create a unified logo and standards, said Liu.
