Antique experts insist that the finest porcelain antiques have not yet been returned to China, but this has not prevented a leap in demand for imitations which is reviving China's ancient ceramic-making industry.

China's Palace Museum has entrusted Huang Yunpeng, one of the most established porcelain craftsman in Jingdezhen, a town in east China's Jiangxi Province with a rich history in ceramics, to replicate over 400 pieces of Qing Dynasty porcelain antiques.

Huang is leading the rebuilding of Jingdezhen's reputation as the world's ceramic art center, recovering techniques that have been forgotten for six centuries. After 20 years overseeing repairs at the Jingdezhen Ceramic Museum in Jiangxi, he is now director of the Jia Yang Ceramic Studio and a master copier.

One of his replica 14th century Chinese porcelain jars is sold for around 30,000 yuan (3,750 U.S. dollars). The original antique sold for 15.7 million pounds (about 27 million dollars) at a London auction last year, breaking the world record for a piece of Asian art.

"The replicas have their own art value. Remaking porcelain antiques in the traditional way helps carry forward China's ceramic-making culture and preserves the ancient craftsmanship," said Lu Chenglong, deputy director of the Antique Department of the Palace Museum.

He disclosed that the refined ceramic-making craftsmanship in Jingdezhen, has produced porcelain wares based on ancient drawing drafts kept by the museum, which had never previously been kilned.

Professor Tang Kai, with the Archeological Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China had 70 million art collectors in 2002. The number had increased to 100 million by the end of 2005, with half of them keen on collecting china.

The kiln ovens of Jingdezhen, many of which used to be imperial pottery factories, have been burning for more than 1,000 years. However, they have long before lost their lustre to the European ceramic art center of the Netherlands.

According to Judge Yang Wu, head of the Intellectual Property Rights Court of the Jingdezhen Intermediate People's Court, porcelain reproductions of antiques are not an infringement of intellectual property rights.

"Antiques are not protected by intellectual property laws. Huang Yunpeng's work is made in his kiln and, although there are replicas of original antiques, they are inscribed with his name," said Yang.

Kong Falong, owner of the largest private ceramic art museum in Jingdezhen, said before the Asian financial crisis, two thirds of buyers of porcelain imitations were from Japan and the Republic of Korea. But now, over 80 percent of buyers are Chinese.

However, Wen Guihua, deputy director of the art auction commission under the China Association of Auctioneers, said only when those Chinese artworks attracting top international prices return to China would it be the prime time in China for collecting Chinese art.

(Xinhua News Agency November 1, 2006)