The Textual Research on the Constructive System of the Porcelain Pagoda Inside of the Great Bao'en Temple

Abstract

In 1412, Zhu Di, the emperor of Ming dynasty, built the Nanking porcelain pagoda to construct the legitimacy of his rule and build a sense of national identity between Han and Tibetan. This paper bases on the porcelain pagoda’s new Chinese pagoda style, analyze and conclude the construction system of it from visual, craft and production perspective. Through methodologies of literature analysis, comparative study, and physical research, this paper holds the opinion that visually, the porcelain pagoda is the representative of the feudal political culture of Ming Dynasty, technically, the building of the porcelain pagoda continued the tenon and mortise structure of traditional Chinese wooden structures, yet due to the physical properties of ceramics, which are hard, fragile, and difficult to adjust once fired, its modular precision was forced to be further improved. Therefore, I contend that the mass production of glazed ceramics in Ming dynasty is the craft reaching perfection instead of the development of technology. Despite that the ruler at that time used strict management to control craftsmen, using division of labour and regional coordination to realize the mass production of glazed ceramics, Ming was still unable to achieve industrialization. To search to the bottom, The reason that Western used machines to replace human was to enlarge profit and lower the cost of labour. On contrary, the glazed ceramics industry in Ming dynasty was not people- oriented.