On January 24th, more than 1000 pieces of porcelain unearthed from Zhanggongxiang Kiln made their first concentrated appearance on the day of the academic seminar on Zhanggongxiang Kiln in Ruzhou, Henan. This batch of porcelain was systematically restored from newly unearthed fragments, covering more than 30 types of vessels such as bowls, plates, furnaces, and zuns, many of which were discovered for the first time at the kiln site. Shen Yueming, Executive Vice President of the Chinese Society of Ancient Ceramics, summarized the results of the meeting and said that this batch of high-level, high-quality, and high-grade porcelain specimens is a major breakthrough in the archaeological work of Zhanggongxiang Kiln. It is basically determined that Zhanggongxiang Kiln belongs to the Song and Jin dynasties, and its products have imperial properties, providing key clues for the long-standing mystery of the "Northern Song Official Kiln" that has plagued the academic community. The Zhanggongxiang kiln site, a mysterious kiln entrance that ceramic scholars have been searching for hundreds of years, is gradually unveiling its mysterious veil after nearly 26 years of academic research. Years of exploration: The Zhanggong Lane kiln site is located at the intersection of Zhongda Street and Zhanggong Lane in the southeast of Ruzhou City, Pingdingshan City, Henan Province, corresponding to the physical objects and literary records. The kiln site is about 35 kilometers away from the famous Baofeng Qingliang Temple Ru Kiln Site, and is under the jurisdiction of Ruzhou in the Northern Song Dynasty, within the same ceramic industry circle. The discovery of the Zhanggongxiang kiln site is closely related to Zhu Wenli, the recipient of the title of "Great Nation Craftsman" and the representative inheritor of the national intangible cultural heritage project "Ru Porcelain Firing Technique". Since joining the state-owned Ru Porcelain Factory, he has been searching for the ruins of the official Ru kiln. In the spring of 2000, when residents of Zhanggongxiang were building new houses, dozens of typical kiln furniture were discovered in the foundation, including disc, barrel, and funnel shaped bowls. Zhu Wenli immediately reported to the cultural relics and archaeology department. Since 2000, the Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology has conducted five archaeological excavations. The fifth excavation made a significant breakthrough, unearthing a large number of kiln site relics with typical characteristics of official kilns, including blue porcelain, box bowls, production tools, raw materials, etc. Among them, the outer walls of the box bowls were coated with refractory mud, some were protected with glaze, and makeup soil was used. The craftsmanship was extremely exquisite, and several objects corresponding to the "Revised Xuanhe Bo Gu Tu Lu" were also discovered. The Revised Xuanhe Bo Gu Tu Lu "is a thirty volume work on epigraphy compiled by Wang Fu and others in the Song Dynasty, completed in the fifth year of Xuanhe (1123). This book records 839 bronze artifacts from the Shang to Tang dynasties collected in the Xuanhe Hall of the Northern Song Dynasty, divided into 20 categories such as tripods and zuns. The dimensions, inscriptions, and verification of the artifacts are recorded in a graphic and textual format. Unlike the porcelain unearthed from the Ruguan Kiln, Yanhedian Kiln, and Donggou Kiln in Qingliang Temple, the products fired by Zhanggongxiang Kiln are only blue glazed porcelain, with glaze colors including egg green, light green, gray green, green, and sky green, mainly green and green. In terms of fetal bone, there are pink white, gray white, pure white, and a small amount of light gray, and the fetal texture is delicate and solid. Compared with the fragrant gray body of the Ru Guan kiln in Qingliang Temple, the tire making process of Zhanggongxiang kiln is more meticulous and the quality of the tire is whiter. The shapes of the objects are diverse, including bowls, flower mouth folded belly ring foot plates, flower mouth plate along the flat bottom plate, plate mouth thin neck bottles, goose neck bulging belly bottles, cups, cup holders, plastic incense burners, box sets, and lids. Among them, two types of flower mouth plates, oval wrapped foot washing, and square flat bottomed plates are not seen in the Ru kiln that has been passed down through generations. Continuous research: Uncovering more secrets of the Song and Jin official kilns. With multiple excavations of the Zhanggongxiang kiln and the continuous emergence of archaeological results, this kiln site has attracted the attention of numerous experts. Especially regarding the nature and age of Zhanggongxiang kiln, it has always been a focus of discussion. Mr. Guo Xuelei from the Ceramic Culture Research Institute of Zhejiang Qiantang Higher Research Institute believes that the political center of the Jin Dynasty moved south twice to Bianjing (occurring during the reigns of King Hailing from 1149 to 1161 and Emperor Xuanzong from 1213 to 1224), which became an important driving force for the restoration of Ru kiln production during the Jin Dynasty. The Ru kiln (Qingliangsi Ru kiln) and Zhanggongxiang kiln gradually developed a new appearance of Jin Dynasty official kiln porcelain based on the Northern Song Ru kiln, and had certain interactions and exchanges with the Southern Song Longquan kiln and Goryeo celadon. Li Jianmao, Vice President of the Chinese Ancient Ceramics Society, pointed out that if Zhanggongxiang Kiln was an official kiln of the Northern Song Dynasty, the transformation from Ru Kiln to Zhanggongxiang Kiln should be related to the reform of the ritual system of Emperor Huizong of Song, and the implementation of the "Zhenghe Five Rites and New Etiquettes". If Zhanggongxiang Kiln is a Jin Dynasty official kiln, it fills the gap of Jin Dynasty official kilns. It conforms to the aesthetic characteristics of the Jurchen nobility, who both admire the education of the Central Plains and have the outward expression of nomadic peoples. He believed that the Zhanggongxiang kiln can be divided into two phases by studying the unearthed artifacts from the ash pit. The first phase was the Northern Song official kiln, and the later phase was the Jin Dynasty official kiln. In addition, he pointed out through the comparison of artifacts that the Zhanggongxiang kiln shows the inheritance of the Jin Dynasty's ritual system to the Northern Song Dynasty's ritual system, as well as its interaction with the Southern Song Dynasty's ritual system. Mu Qing, a research curator at Hebei Museum, believes that many Chinese ceramics matured and reached their peak in the late Northern Song Dynasty. However, it cannot be directly separated from the late Northern Song Dynasty to the Jin Dynasty. Zhanggongxiang Kiln was an official kiln in the late Northern Song Dynasty, but its production could have continued into the Jin Dynasty. Experts believe that the continuous research and discovery of Zhanggongxiang kiln not only has significant academic value, but also injects vitality into local cultural heritage and industrial development. The research work on the imperial kiln system, historical context of firing, summary of firing techniques, and replication of classic artifacts surrounding Zhanggongxiang kiln is still ongoing. (New Society)