Drifting in China’s porcelain capital: self-realization and alternative-seeking of the self-employed craft workers in Jingdezhen

Abstract

Following the decline and closure of government factories in Jingdezhen, the Chinese capital of porcelain, a recent wave of migrant self-employed craft workers known as “Jing drifters” (jingpiao 景漂) has faced a dilemma: whether to follow independent craft practices and remain vulnerable, or hire workers, automate some steps, and cut corners to make more money. Recent government-led redevelopment plans in Jingdezhen are introducing spatial reconfigurations and a new regulation of the manufacturing process. Residents have diverse opinions on these government-led plans and show that these changes have exacerbated the instability in the work of the self-employed craft workers. Drawing on participant observation, in-depth interviews, and diaries, I also report a changing social dynamic in response to these transformations, which takes place where the individual craft workers, the local craft community, the state-endorsed enterprise capitalists, and the state meet. By contextualizing the individual craft workers in such a changing context as well as in their craft communities where a self-reliant and carefree lifestyle narrative is prevalent, I find that the self-employed craft workers can be self-reliant, self-organized, and mutually supportive despite the vulnerability and instability in their work and in the industry and city. This suggests the possibility of a self-sufficient alternative lifestyle that parallels that of the Chinese neo-liberal consumerist society and of the state-led renaissance narrative about Jingdezhen.