99% of the Chinese porcelains to be seen in the great country houses of Europe came form the city of Jingdezhen (Jiangxi province).  It is estimated that throughout much of the 18th century more than 2 million pieces were arriving annually.  But how were the ceramics of Jingdezhen -- five hundred miles distant from the capital in Beijing and equally remote from the southern port of Guangzhou (Canton) -- transported to Imperial and foreign clients?  I follow China’s overland routes and the so-called Imperial Way: down river, over lakes, onto canals, over mountain pass, onto more rivers and eventually to the clients’ destination  -- not forgetting the additional 11,000 miles by sea for those western exports.

This richly illustrated talk draws on several of my trips to China, including the most recent on which I recorded China on a Plate for BBC Radio 4 [transmitted 7th and 14th September, 2007]

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