STORY: Spanish potter shapes fusion of Eastern and Western art in China's "porcelain capital"
SHOOTING TIME: Recent footage
DATELINE: Feb. 15, 2025
LENGTH: 00:01:53
LOCATION: JINGDEZHEN, China
CATEGORY: CULTURE

SHOTLIST:
1. aerial view of Jingdezhen, China
2. various of Jaume Ribalta's studio
3. SOUNDBITE 1 (English): JAUME RIBALTA, Spanish artist
4. various of porcelain works
5. various of Spring Festival elements
6. SOUNDBITE 2 (English): JAUME RIBALTA, Spanish artist
7. various of porcelain works
8. SOUNDBITE 3 (English): JAUME RIBALTA, Spanish artist
9. various of Jingdezhen, China

STORYLINE:

Spanish artist Jaume Ribalta has established a studio in Jingdezhen, dubbed China's "porcelain capital."

SOUNDBITE 1 (English): JAUME RIBALTA, Spanish artist
"I'm Jaume Ribalta, a Spanish visual artist. I've lived in Jingdezhen for almost 3 years. I do my projects here in Jingdezhen based on ceramics and the traditional blue-and-white porcelain of Jingdezhen."

His studio is filled with Chinese elements, each detail reflecting Ribalta's deep appreciation for Chinese culture.

SOUNDBITE 2 (English): JAUME RIBALTA, Spanish artist
"Like mentioning the Spring Festival, for example, it is something that I keep present not only in my creative process. There is a series of tea cups I made called 'Sheng Xiao Xi Lie,' the Chinese zodiac cups. For every year that goes by, I'd make a different animal into the cup."

Ribalta has fused his Spanish heritage with Chinese artistry to craft works that blend Eastern and Western artistic styles.

SOUNDBITE 3 (English): JAUME RIBALTA, Spanish artist
"There are particular designs and images that are just given into Jingdezhen's porcelain, and you can not find them anywhere else in the world. I play with its symbolic language with my own designs. So I can fuse Chinese culture with the Spanish one. Ceramics in Western cultures, especially in Spain or Portugal, has a lot to do on architecture, on houses. I would like to transfer it to Jingdezhen as a whole. We are on a special channel now that's capable of doing very large piles of blue-and-white porcelain, to create some buildings, some structures where you could see a huge model of blue-and-white porcelain, with a story, with a narrative that continues this aspirational goal that I have, that is being a cultural bridge."

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Jingdezhen, China.
(XHTV)