Renaissance Of Traditional Handicraft And Cultural Reconstruction-Fieldwork Report Of Jingdezhen Lao Yatan Ceramic Art District

Throughout the history of Chinese handicraft, we find that though moving haltingly, handicraft still endures in the process of modernization. Traditional handicraft is becoming a cultural resource, especially in the age of Internet and information. Its technique, aesthetics and meaning system are all being rediscovered and reused, and are becoming new means of generating cultural and economic values. Against the background of Internet and globalization, a new topic that concerns the reconstruction of traditional handicraft in modernization and its interaction with modern society has emerged.Traditional ceramic handicraft didn’t cease to survive - on the contrary, it thrives. By combining traditional elements with modern, local and international ones, it forms a unique urban cultural landscape.Using theory and view, perspective and method of art anthropology, this dissertation takes the modern development of traditional Jindezhen handicraft as example. Under the view of culture as a whole, this dissertation discusses Laoyatan, the ceramic art district, in the case study by "thick description".Chapter one to six are some parts of the ethnography in Laoyatan based on the field work. They are also the narrative texts of this dissertation.Chapter one investigates Laoyatan. It mainly describes the basic facts of this area, the methodologies that will be utilized in the research and the writing style in the report of the field work. Chapter two to six will be elaborated both diachronically and synchronically. The Road to Rejuvenation is a diachronic investigation into the development of Laoyatan and its current cultural landscape, while Collective Activities, Function and Structure, Interaction and Integration is a synchronic investigation into the interaction of connection points in the cultural ecology of Laoyatan. The writer holds the view that the development of Laoyatan in the past two decades is the result of "cultural conflict" and "cultural integration" in the transitional period of the society. It is a compound product of culture, art, economy, politics and society. In this "melting pot", traditional culture mingles with modern, contemporary, local and international ones, while traditional technique blends with modern technology and media. They all contributes to the innovation and reconstruction of culture. To a certain extent, it reflects the development of China’s reform and opening up in the last thirty years. It also serves as a microcosm of China’s traditional handicraft in transformation of modern industrial society to a post-modern industrial society.Through the research, the writer hopes to solve the three following questions. First, by understanding the development of this traditional handicraft city, it helps to further comprehend the whole process of revival and reconstruction of Chinese traditional culture since the reform and opening up. Second, by taking Jindezhen as its research object, it serves as a continuation of Ms. Fang Lili’s research in "urban field" in the hope that it can further expand the research field of Art Anthropology. Third, by doing the case study of Laoyatan and a through microscopic research, this dissertation hopes to achieve practical results, which could be used as a reference to the overall development of human culture and art...