Artists revive crumbling village into tourist resort

By integrating contemporary art into an ancient village, the original appearance of the once-abandoned Zhangjialou village has been restored and the ceramic culture it stands for has been preserved in a leisure resort where people can enjoy an idyllic and artistic life.

Located at the Fengfeng mining district in Handan, North China's Hebei province, the village was abundant with porcelain clay and was a raw material base of Cizhou kiln, a folk kiln making ceramics mainly in the Song Dynasty (960-1279) and mostly using black and white decoration.

However, with the outflow of rural populations and the recession in the porcelain industry, villagers gradually left their homes and land, leaving it empty and deserted for over 20 years.