Changsha Kiln

The Changsha kiln (长沙窑), also called the Tongguan kiln, was a Tang and Five Dynasties pottery complex along the east bank of the Xiang at Tongguan, north-west of Changsha. A folk kiln of the eighth to tenth centuries, unknown to the written record and rediscovered by archaeology, it is treated as the birthplace of underglaze-painted ceramics — pigments brushed onto the raw body beneath the glaze — with pieces dated by inscription to 808, 838 and 855. Its wares travelled as far as Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, West Asia and Africa. The site became a national protected unit in 1988 and an archaeological park opened in 2012.