China · Ceramic Repair; Metal Staple Joinery
锔瓷 (jū cí); traditional characters 鋦瓷; craftsperson: 锔匠 (jū jiàng)
Juci is the Chinese craft of mending broken porcelain and other ceramics with small metal staples. The mender fits the shards back together, drills a pair of blind holes on either side of the crack with a diamond-tipped drill turned by a hand bow, and hammers in a hand-forged staple whose hooked legs pull the pieces tight. The seam is then sealed with a lime-based paste so the vessel can hold water again. The trade proverb 'Without a diamond drill, don't take on porcelain work' (没有金刚钻,别揽瓷器活) refers to the drilling. The exact origin is not recorded, but a mender is depicted in the Song-dynasty scroll 'Along the River During the Qingming Festival' and the trade was consolidated in the Ming and Qing. Since the Qing there have been two registers: 'common work' for household utility and 'show work' in which the staples are deliberate decoration. Today it survives mainly as provincially listed heritage and as an art-repair practice.
Risk level: Vulnerable · Not listed by UNESCO. No national-level (State Council) listing verified. Provincial listings found: Sichuan, 6th batch, April 2023 (Chengdu Chenghua District); Shandong, 5th batch, 2021 ('Juyi — Zibo juci'); Hunan, 5th batch, 2021 ('Ancient ceramic repair — Li-style juci', Changde); Jiangsu, 2023 (Nantong); Liaoning (provincial list 'Juci technique', batch not confirmed; Fushun city list since 2006). Municipal: Nantong 2017, Wuhan 7th batch (2022), Hangzhou 7th batch. Shanghai has an ICH project on juci (level not confirmed).
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