91-year-old porcelain craftswoman builds a "palace" to carry forward tradition of porcelain culture

Yu Ermei, a 91-year-old woman from Jingdezhen, east China's Jiangxi Province, spent her savings on building a "porcelain palace" decorated with broken porcelain fragments and over 60,000 pieces of her own collections in an effort to better disseminate the culture of porcelain-making to others.

Born in Jingdezhen, also known as China's "porcelain capital," Yu began an apprenticeship at the age of 12 under the influence of his uncle who had long been engaged in the industry. As a fast learner, she soon mastered various porcelain making skills.

Yu would later go on to start running her own business, a porcelain plant, after China initiated its reform and opening up policy in 1978. Thanks to her excellent craftsmanship and qualities of honesty and integrity, Yu ran a thriving business, with her products having been exported to many foreign countries.

Brushing aside all the opposition of her family, Yu, at the age of 80, became committed to building a palace decorated with porcelain pieces and 60,000 pieces of porcelain ware she had collected, so as to carry forward the local traditional culture.

When the marvelous three-storey palace, which covers an area of 400 square meters, was finally completed, Yu handed over its management to the government in order to better promote porcelain culture.

The palace was officially opened to the public on Oct. 1, 2016, with tickets sold for only 25 yuan to each visitor. It was later rated as a national 2A scenic spot, attracting a large number of porcelain enthusiasts at home and abroad to visit.