The newly-opened ancient wood-fired ceramic kiln in east China's porcelain capital of Jingdezhen City produced about 20,000 ceramics on Thursday after being abandoned for 15 years.

The kiln with an 18-meter-long furnace and a volume of 300 cubic meters set a world record for largest wood fired ceramic kiln, said Wu Xiaohong, representative of the British-based Guinness World Records Ltd.

The last remaining ancient kiln in the city covers an area of 800 square meters. It is located on a quiet hillside in Jingdezhen, a city with a 1,700-year-old history of pottery production. Its history dates back to the reign of Emperor Qianlong in the Qing Dynasty more than 300 years ago.

The once fired pots for the royal families became home of termites after the firing stopped in 1995.

Normally, the kiln fired pots once every week and needed repairing once every five years.

"With the reopening of the kiln, we could study how the ancient people loaded the kiln, how they controlled the temperature and duration of the firing, how they created atmosphere within a kiln to affect the appearances of the finished wares. Some techniques were unique in the world," Zhou Ronglin, director of the Jingdezhen Municipal Ceramic Cultural Heritage Research and Protection Center.

Craftsmen began to repair the kiln since August 1. It took them 24 days to make the kiln appear as it used to be.

"If the kiln had not been refired, the cultural heritage would be lost," said Yu Yunshan, who was in charge of the repair work.

The rekindling of the kiln was done exactly in the ancient way on Monday without any modern instrument. The workers relied on their experience to decide how much wood should be fired for 23 hours non-stop.

"While heating up, different parts of the wood-fired ceramic kiln varies in temperature, thus producing various types of ceramics, an advantage unmatched by modern kilns," said Liu Yuanchang, a master of arts and crafts in China.

"The kiln with the temperature of up to 1,320 degrees has to cool down for two days before the ceramics are ready," said Hu Jiawang, responsible for overseeing the temperature of the kiln.

More than 40 tons of woods were used in the firing.

"Most of the blue and white porcelain from Jingdezhen kept in the well-known museums in the world were all made in the wood-fired ceramic kilns," said Liu Yuanchang.

"The kiln is a perfect platform to inherit, display and restore the traditional firing techniques of the city," he said.

(Xinhua News Agency October 23, 2009)