Chaozhou Ceramic Inlay (Qianci)

Chaozhou ceramic inlay is a traditional architectural ornament in which cut shards of coloured porcelain are inlaid and built up into images, known locally as 'jurao' or 'tierao'. It entered the third batch of national ICH in 2011.

Craftsmen first model a frame in mortar along a roof ridge or wall crest, then inlay and paste, shard by shard, porcelain pieces cut into petals, scales and the like to form dragons, phoenixes, birds, flowers and opera figures — brilliantly coloured, fade-resistant, and gleaming when set high up.

Inlay is concentrated on the ridges and screen walls of Chaoshan ancestral halls and temples and, with woodcarving and stone carving, completes the 'three carvings' of Chaoshan architecture — a material expression of clan belief and the craft tradition.

Vivid ceramic-inlay ornament can be seen on the ridges and screen walls of ancestral halls and temples in and around the Chaozhou old town.