This study examines the history of the porcelain industry in Jingdezhen from the Ming dynasty to the present day, but with special emphasis on the Ming and Qing periods. After a chronological survey of the town's history from earliest times to 1949, various aspects of the production and distribution of porcelain are considered: the raw materials used and their manufacture, transport and marketing, management and labour,finance and overseas trade, and their significance in the industry's development is assessed. Among the problems that are examined throughout the study and in the conclusion are the reasons for the establishment of the industry in Jingdezhen in the first place, its great progress during the Ming dynasty and failure to modernise in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, and the connections between economic development, state involvement and technological progress