This attraction introduction is compiled from historical materials in the "Zhangjiajie Tour Guide Network" (33519.com · Scenic Spots section). Ticket prices, opening hours, transportation, and contact information mentioned in the text may be outdated. Please refer to the latest official announcements from the scenic area before traveling; some content consists of historical background/cultural introductions and is for reference only.
According to historical records, the Yuezhou Kiln at that time was one of the six famous kilns in the country. The Yuezhou Kiln is at Yaotou Mountain on the west bank of the Xiang River, 21 kilometers southwest of the Xiangyin county seat. In 1937 and in recent years, bowls, pots, and other pottery objects were repeatedly excavated from the kiln bottom and surrounding areas on the riverbed bank. According to archaeological analysis by cultural relics departments, it was a Tang Dynasty kiln. Because Xiangyin County was then under the jurisdiction of Yuezhou, it was called the Yuezhou Kiln. During the 1981 place-name survey, Tang Dynasty painted pottery jars were also collected here, showing that China's ceramic colored-glaze techniques had already reached a fairly high level in the Tang Dynasty. This kiln site has had a stele record erected by the cultural relics department and has been listed as a provincial-level cultural relic protection unit. The original kiln had long since collapsed and been abandoned. It is said that the kiln site successively moved to Baimei Village across the river (now within Zhangshu Town), then to the county seat, and later to Sanfeng Kiln, Yingtian, Lujiao, and other places.
According to archaeological discoveries: there are Yuezhou Kiln sites in the dike and embankment area of the Xiangyin county seat. They are 150 meters long from north to south and about 6 meters deep. In the Tiejiaozui area of Xiangyin County there are ancient kiln sites from the Jin and Tang periods, but mainly Tang Dynasty products, most of them celadon bowls with wall-shaped feet. The kiln sites are distributed along the west bank of the Xiang River from north of Tiejiaozui to the Wujia Ancestral Hall area, and can be divided into upper, middle, and lower kiln zones.
Yuezhou Kiln products were mainly daily necessities, such as bowls, alms bowls, plates, cups, washbasins, pots, jars, and urns, and so on. The glaze color was mainly celadon glaze, with some sauce-colored glaze. The celadon glaze was lustrous and shining, transparent or semi-transparent, often with glassy crackle. Usually the upper half was glazed and the lower half left unglazed, with hanging glaze like tears. The sauce glaze was not very transparent, slightly crackled or not crackled. The body can be divided into three types: porcelain body, tile body, and vat body, with porcelain body accounting for two-thirds of the total objects. Saggers were widely used in firing, which was a major innovation in ceramic craftsmanship.
The porcelain of the Xiangyin Yuezhou Kiln played a role linking the past and the future in the development of ancient porcelain in Hunan, and is a pearl among Hunan's porcelain kilns.
In 2000, when the Xiangyin County Government was doing infrastructure construction at its site, Yuezhou Kiln porcelain kiln cultural relics were unearthed. To protect the original kiln site, in 2002 the county government decided to build the Yuezhou Kiln Museum. The museum is a three-story antique-style building built on the basis of protecting the original kiln site. The first floor (underground) has a courtyard-style building complex, with a ceramic production exhibition room, a computer kiln, restored Yuezhou Kiln celadon, and a Yuezhou Kiln celadon tea set tasting room. The second floor (at ground level) houses the Yuezhou Kiln celadon fine works exhibition room (in antique Tang style). The third floor is a city tower for people to rest and enjoy the view. At present, the Yuezhou Kiln Museum has completed the main structure and most of the decorative work. It has now opened to receive visitors.
