The Big Porcelain Merchant

This film (drama)Also known as大瓷商，is aMainland ChinaProducerbeauty live，At2009Released in year 。The dialogue language isMandarin Chinese，Current Douban rating6.6(For reference only)。

In the autumn of the fourth year of the Republic of China, under the protection of Yuan Shikai, the last emperor Puyi ordered the production of a large red dragon jar for the sacrifice to heaven in the palace. Official kiln owner Zhao Fusheng repeatedly failed in his attempts to create it. According to court regulations, Zhao Fusheng should have been sentenced to death. After numerous pleas for mercy, the supervising pottery official agreed to follow his request to use the old custom of a virgin sacrifice to fire the kiln one more time. The largest private kiln owner in Jingdezhen, Tao Shengren, was an upright man with a strong sense of justice. His son, Tao Changnan, had a childhood betrothal with Zhao Ruyi. He went to the official and the county magistrate, hoping they would not take a person's life to sacrifice at the kiln. He was willing to sign a military contract to produce the large dragon jar. The officials were eager for a scapegoat and immediately agreed. Tao Shengren understood the gravity of the matter; the risk was too great, and if he failed, he would certainly be executed. Thus, he sent Xiao Xi to bring back his son Tao Changnan, who was studying in Nanchang. On the boat returning to Jingdezhen, Tao Changnan encountered Wei Qiuhua, the daughter of the county magistrate who had just returned from studying in France. Wei Qiuhua fell into the water while trying to save an injured bird that had fallen on the bow of the boat, and Tao Changnan rescued both her and the bird. The two fell in love at first sight. However, the large dragon jar produced by Tao Shengren was also of substandard quality. Tao Shengren committed suicide by poison. Before dying, to preserve the family name, he forced Tao Changnan to abandon his studies, take over the Tao family's porcelain business, and honor his engagement to Zhao Fusheng's daughter Zhao Ruyi. Seeing the fall of the Tao family, Zhao Fusheng intended to back out of the engagement. In a fit of anger, Tao Changnan took the initiative to propose a dissolution of the engagement. He had always been dissatisfied with the marriage arranged by his family. Of course, the main reason was that he had fallen for Wei Qiuhua. Zhao Ruyi was filled with jealousy seeing Wei Qiuhua and Tao Changnan together frequently. Through Wallace, the British priest in Jingdezhen, she found the bandit Liu Mengzi on Qingyang Mountain and abducted Wei Qiuhua from the county town. Tao Changnan searched everywhere for news of Wei Qiuhua's whereabouts. Accidentally, he witnessed a great fire in the mountains that burned down houses. Without regard for his own safety, he rescued Liu Mengzi's mother. Following Tao Changnan up the mountain, Liu Mengzi, being a filial son, was persuaded by his mother to release Wei Qiuhua. Tao Changnan's business began to thrive as he started to expand into Jiangsu, Anhui, Guangdong, Shanghai, and other trading ports. Zhao Fusheng's son Zhao Ruxin, hating Tao Changnan for backing out of their engagement, utilized the powerful resources of the official kiln to team up with Wallace, deliberately lowering prices in Shanghai, Hubei, and Jiujiang to force Tao Changnan into a corner. Tao Changnan faced serious inventory backlog and was temporarily unable to turn over funds, causing the wages of the kiln workers to go unpaid. To save the kiln factory, he secretly mortgaged an ancestral red Buddha porcelain statue to another private kiln owner, Zhang Zhiwang, in Jingdezhen. Tao Changnan realized that to remain undefeated in the competition with the Zhao family, he needed to develop a unique product. Collaborating with Wei Qiuhua, he researched and developed a type of underglaze red porcelain that had been lost since the Yuan Dynasty. He named it "Beautiful Drunkenness," and the product was very popular. Wei Qiuhua helped him take photos of the product and held a press conference in Nanchang to promote the Tao family kiln's products nationwide, shattering Zhao Ruxin's dreams of monopolizing Jingdezhen. Japanese businessman Andian came to Jingdezhen and, using the beauty of his subordinate Liang Xiuzhi, seduced Zhao Ruxin to obtain the Zhao family's blue and white porcelain formula, later opening a large opium den in Jingdezhen. A disaster struck Jingdezhen, with floods submerging the banks of the Changjiang River, houses collapsing, farmland yielding less, and epidemics spreading. Zhao Ruxin seized the opportunity to buy up grain and sell it at high prices in Jingdezhen. Tao Changnan found his actions disgraceful and challenged him with the assets of the Tao family; the famous group of painters known as the Eight Friends of Zhu Mountain also held a charity art exhibition to raise funds for disaster relief, providing free grain and shelter for the people. Zhao Ruxin's dreams of wealth were dashed, and he harbored immense hatred for Tao Changnan. While treating the plague-affected citizens, Wei Qiuhua unfortunately contracted a severe illness and nearly died. Fortunately, her French classmate McLun learned of this and sent effective medicine from France, which saved her life. That year, Tao Changnan married Wei Qiuhua. Zhao Ruyi reluctantly married Zhang Renhe, the son of another private kiln owner, Zhang Zhiwang, in Jingdezhen. In Shanghai, the northeast businessman Wang Deming faced business failure and was on the brink of bankruptcy. Tao Changnan helped him at a critical moment, deeply moving Wang. To repay the kindness, Wang hoped to marry his daughter Wang Xueyu to him, but Tao Changnan stated he already had a virtuous wife and could not remarry. That night, Wang Deming got Tao Changnan drunk and sent Wang Xueyu to his side. Tao Changnan and Wang Xueyu became involved. Afterward, Tao Changnan felt immense guilt and repeatedly apologized to Wang Xueyu. That winter, Wang Xueyu arrived in Jingdezhen, pregnant and seeking Tao Changnan. She knew he could not marry her but wanted to see him one last time and asked him to name her unborn child. This situation caused jealousy in Wei Qiuhua. She expressed to Tao Changnan that she was not an old-fashioned woman; if he wanted to bring Wang Xueyu home, she would divorce him. Soon, Wang Xueyu gave birth to a son, whom Tao Changnan named Si Bei. Wang Xueyu did not want to make things difficult for Tao Changnan and returned to Shanghai with Si Bei. To expand his business, Tao Changnan opened branches in Shanghai, Nanchang, Jiujiang, and aimed to export porcelain to Europe and America, opening up maritime porcelain routes. He personally led a fleet from the Strait of Malacca to France but unfortunately suffered severe losses due to a pirate attack. Zhao Ruxin aimed to take advantage of this opportunity to destroy Tao Changnan, colluding with the military tyrant Bai Shizhang stationed in the provincial capital to have him imprisoned under the pretext that Tao Changnan had funded the Red Army in the past. Upon learning that Tao Changnan was about to be executed, Tao's wife died in grief. Bai Shizhang, cunning and scheming, sought to kill Tao Changnan with the help of the Nanchang National Government. When he took Tao Changnan out of Jingdezhen, Tao Changnan's younger brother, Tao Changyang, who had already joined the Red Army, ambushed Bai Shizhang's troop, resulting in a rout and rescuing Tao Changnan. As the Anti-Japanese War broke out, Tao Changnan worried for the safety of Wang Xueyu and their son Tao Si Bei in Shanghai and prepared to bring them back to Jingdezhen. When he arrived in Shanghai, Wang Xueyu had already become a nun. Just as Tao Changnan and his entourage were escaping Shanghai, they were discovered by Andian's subordinates. To protect Tao Changnan and Tao Si Bei, Wang Deming was shot dead by the furious Andian. To support the war effort, Tao Changnan prepared a batch of anti-war supplies. Once Zhao Ruxin learned of this, he notified Andian, who sent Liang Xiuzhi and two rogues to prepare to blow up the boat transporting Tao Changnan’s supplies. Zhao Ruyi, unable to forget Tao Changnan, secretly warned him. On the boat, Tao Changnan captured the two rogues, while Liang Xiuzhi jumped into the water to escape. Zhao Fusheng, upon discovering his son’s collusion with the Japanese, expelled Zhao Ruxin from Jingdezhen. With the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, Tao Changnan and Wei Qiuhua went to the nunnery to visit Wang Xueyu, hoping she would return to Jingdezhen to live with them. Wang Xueyu, seeing through worldly affairs, refused to leave the nunnery but asked Tao Changnan to take Si Bei and raise him well so he could be successful. Meanwhile, Liang Xiuzhi, who had been hiding in Nanchang, conspired to steal the ancestral Buddha statue from the Tao family along with Zhao Ruxin. In the act of stealing the Tao family Buddha statue, she was discovered by Tao Changnan. Zhao Ruxin shot at Tao Changnan, accidentally killing his beloved sister Zhao Ruyi, who rushed up to stop him. Seeing his most cherished sister lying on the ground, Zhao Ruxin despaired and committed suicide. The McLun couple came to Jingdezhen to visit Wei Qiuhua. Tao Changnan and Wei Qiuhua entrusted them to take Tao Si Bei to study in France, hoping he would one day serve his country after completing his education.